462 SYDNEY E. JOHNSON 



depth from 2 to 10 fathoms, but in my experience on the dredge at 

 Friday Harbor during the summer of 1913 by far the greater 

 number was taken from a depth of 15 to 20 fathoms, and not 

 infrequently a specimen came from a depth of 40 fathoms. The 

 fish was rarely seen in tide pools. 



Judging from stomach contents of fifteen specimens, Rhampho- 

 cottus is strictly carnivorous. So far as could be determined from 

 preserved specimens, the food consists entirely of small stalk- 

 eyed crustaceans ; two to seven of these were found in each of the 

 stomachs examined. 



Although the fish has no economic importance, it is of peculiar 

 interest from a taxonomic point of view, as it is, according to its 

 present classification, the sole representative of the family Rham- 

 phocottidae. Dr. Gill ('88) even expresses the opinion that it 

 deserves the rank of a superfamily. Giinther, who described 

 the species in 1874, classed it with the Cottidae. In each in- 

 stance, however, the classification has been based largely upon 

 external characters. In fact. Dr. Gill had only one ''moderately 

 well preserved example" of Rhamphocottus, which, I imply, he 

 did not dissect. For these reasons it seems desirable that the 

 morphology, particularly the osteology, of this singular fish 

 should be more completely worked out as a means of throwing 

 light on its taxonomic relations. With this end in view, the 

 writer began the work of which the following is a brief report. 



My material consisted of forty specimens collected by myself 

 during the summer of 1913 from San Juan Channel. A large 

 collection belonging to the University of Washington was also 

 at my disposal. The bones were dissected and cleaned under a 

 binocular microscope after treatment with a weak macerating 

 agent. The work was done in the Zoological Laboratory of the 

 University of Washington in 1914, and I wish here to acknowledge 

 my indebtedness to Prof. E. Victor Smith for criticism and many 

 helpful suggestions. 



