228 Storer's Synopsis of the Fishes of North America. 



1. Achirus mollis, Mitchill. 



Form oval. Dark brown, marked transversely with irregular black bands ; left side white, 

 with circular dark-brown blotches scattered over its entire surface ; also, in a less marked 

 manner, upon the fins. Scales small. A small, compressed spine, almost concealed, directly 

 in front of the upper eye, just back of the commencement of the dorsal fin. 



D. 52. V. 4. A. 40. C. 16. Length, 6 inches. 



Massachusetts, north of Cape Cod, Storer. Nantucket to Carolina, Dekat. 



Pleuronectes mollis, New York Sole, Mitchill, Trans. Lit. ami Phil. Soc, of N. Y., i. p. 3S9, pi. 2, fig. 4. 

 Achirus mollis, Griffith's Cuv., x. \> 



" " New York Sole, Stoker's Report, p. 119. 



" " " " Dekay's Report, p. 303, pi. 19, fig. 159. 



2. Achirus apoda, Mitchill. 



Body nearly circular. With about twenty transverse black stripes and as many pale ones, 

 and each pale one is divided by a narrow brown stripe, giving the upper side the appearance 

 of variegated black, pale, and brown cross-bars. Beneath white ; many soft caruncles or pa- 

 pilla; beneath, on both sides of the mouth. 



D. (?). V. (?). A. (?). C. (?). Length (exclusive of caudal fin), 4 inches. 



Straits of Bahama, Mitchill,. 



Pleuronectes apoda, Apodal Sole, Mitchill, American Monthly Review, II. p. 2-14. 



Dr. Dekay, in his " Report on the Fishes of New York," considers this species, as de- 

 scribed by Mitchill, a Monochirus. But as Mitchill distinctly remarks, " there are no pectoral 

 fins," we must, until it is controverted by a recent specimen, consider it an Achirus. 



GENUS V. PLAGUSIA, Cuv. 



No pectoral fins. Dorsal, caudal, and anal fins united. 



1. Plagusia fasciata, Holrrook. 

 Body elongated, terminating in a point, with seven broad, transverse dusky bands. 

 D. (.'). V. (?). A. (?) C. (?) Length, (?). 

 South Carolina, Holbrook. 



Plagusia fasciata (Holbrook's Illustrations), Dekay's Report, p. 304. 



FAMILY XXV. CYCLOPTERLLVE. 



Ventrals suspended all around the pelvis, and united by a single membrane, 

 forming an oval and concave disk, which the fish employs as a sucker to fix 

 itself to the rocks. Mouth broad, furnished at the jaws and pharyngeals with 



