130 Slorefs Synopsis of the Fishes of North America. 



GENUS II. CHIRONECTES, Cuv. 



Head vertically compressed. Three free rays on the summit of the head. 

 Mouth cleft more or less vertically ; opening to the gills by a round aperture 

 behind the pectorals. Tongue edentate. Intermaxillaries, lower jaw, vomer, 

 palatines, and pharyngeals with minute card-teeth. Dorsal long. 



1. Chironectes gibbus, Mitchill. 



Pale brown, variegated along the sides wilh dark yellowish and ruddy, so as to resemble 

 some sorts of iron-stones or fractures of ferruginous earth ; the deeper dark markings cross 

 the dorsal rays obliquely and transversely, and the caudal in concentric curves. Surface of 

 the body granulate. Tail rounded, with concentric bars. Posterior portion of the dorsal fin 

 rounded. 



D. 12. P. 10. V. 5. A. 7. C. 9. Length, 2 inches. 



New York, Mitchill, Dekay. 



Lophius gibbus, Mouse -fish, Mitchill, Trans. Lit. anil Phil. Soc. of N. Y., I. pi. 4, fig. 9. 



" <■ " '• Amer. Month- Mag., II. p. 325. 



Chironectes gibbus, Gibbous Mouse-fish, Dekay's Report, p. 164, pi. 24, fig. 74. 



2. Chironectes lcevigatus, Cuv. 



A dull white, with irregularly distributed dark-brown blotches, or partially formed longi- 

 tudinal bands, which are margined wilh a clear white ; clear white spots upon the abdomen. 

 Surface of the body smooth. Posterior portion of the dorsal highest. 



D. II. P. 18. V. 4. A. 6. C. 8. Length, 2 inches. 



Massachusetts, Storer. New York, Dekay. South Carolina, Cuv. 



chironectes laevigatus, Cuv., Memoires du Museum, 111. p. 423, pi. IG, fig. 1. 

 Le Chironectes uni, Chironectes lasvigatus, Cuv. et Val., xii. p. 399. 

 Chironectes lasvigalus, .Smooth Chironectes, Storer's Keporl, p. 73. 



,( " Smooth Mouse-fish, Dekay's Report, p. 165, pi. 27, fig. 83. 



3. Chironectes scaber, Cuv. 



Yellowish brown, with black spots or lines irregularly distributed- Skin rough ; tubercles 

 upon the eyebrow, cheeks, and lateral line. The first free ray of the dorsal terminates in 

 two long slits or membranous leaves. 



D. (?)• P. (?)■ V. (!)• A. (?). C (.')• Length, (>.). 



Caribbean Sea, Cuv. 



Le Chirouecle rude, Chironectes scaber, Cuv. et Val., xii. p. 412. 



4. Chironectes ocellatus, Cuv. 

 White, with three ocellated dark spots encircled wilh white ; one at the middle of the 



