FISHES COTTIDAE ARTEDIUS. 



69 



pectorals are broad, composed of fifteen rays ; the extremity of the middle and longest reaching 

 a vertical line which would intersect the anus and the fourth ray of the second dorsal. The 

 interradial membrane is emarginated between all, but more deeply below than above. 

 Br. VI : VI ; D XI, 20 ; A 16 ; C 4, 1, 5, 4, 1, 3 ; V I, 4 ; P 15. 



The dorsal band of scales is composed anteriorly of six, tapering posteriorly into two longi- 

 tudinal rows or series. The band of either side meets its fellow in advance of the dorsal fin. 

 The scales themselves are concave or funnel-shaped, with their free margin finely denticulated 

 or serrated ; they are directed obliquely upwards, largest upon the inferior row, and diminishing 

 gradually to the upper row ; the sixth is quite irregular, existing only upon a short distance. 

 The scales of the lateral band have the same general structure as those just referred to, though 

 generally larger ; we observe one row above and two below the lateral line, upon the distance 

 covered by the pectorals ; upon the middle of the flanks successively five, four, three, and two, 

 as we proceed towards the peduncle of the tail, below the lateral line and one above it, to half- 

 way along the tail. The series constituting the lateral line itself is the largest of the whole 

 set, and continuous from the head to the base of the caudal. Elsewhere the skin is perfectly 

 smooth. 



The ground color is dark reddish brown, with darker or blackish blotches, assuming sometimes 

 the shape of transverse bands upon the upper region of the body, the head, and the fins. The 

 inferior surface is unicolor, but the anal is barred or blotched like the other fins, and the ventrals 

 are greyish. 



List of specimens. 



Locality. 



Whence obtained. 



Sau Francisco, California. -- Lieut. Williamson. 



Humboldt bay, Cal j Lieut. Trowbridge. 



San Francitco, California | Dr. Ayres 



.9 

 '5b 



33 



Nature of specimens. 



Alcoholic. 



....do 



....do 



Collected by- 



Dr. Newberry 



Lieut. Trowbridge. 

 Dr. Ayres. 



ARTEDIUS, Girard. 



Gen. Char — Head rough, with supraorbital membranous flaps. Spines upon the preopercle only. Mouth moderately 

 cleft ; lower jaw slightly overlapped by the upper. Teeth upon the premaxillaries, dentaries, front of the vomer, and 

 palatines. Gill openings continuous under the throat ; branchiostegals five on either side. Dorsal fins separated. Caudal 

 sub-truncated posteriorly. Insertion of ventrals opposite the base of the pectorals. A dorsal band of pectinated scales. 



Syn.— .IrtfrfiM, Ged. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. VIII, 1S56, 134. 



Calyeilqmhha (in part), Ayres, Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sc. I, 1855, 76. 



The genus which we here inscribe to the memory of an ichthyologist whose works prepared 

 the road towards a clear and concise zoological nomenclature, is intermediate between Aspicottus 

 and Rtmilepidotus. It diff'ers from the former by the presence of teeth on the palatine bones, 

 tlie absence of spines upon the opercle, and the existence along its dorsal region of a band of 

 small denticulated scales, disposed upon several series. The fact that there are five branchi- 

 ostegals instead of six may also be taken into consideration. From Hemilepidotus it is distin- 



