256 Stover's Synopsis of the Fishes of North America. 



1. Zygaena malleus, Val. 



Body cylindrical, elongated. Head one third as long as broad. Grayish brown above, 

 whitish beneath- Second dorsal arises slightly in front of the anal fin. Branchial openings 

 all before the base of the pectorals. 



D. (?). P. (?). V. (?)• A. (.'). C. ( : ). Length, 2 to 12 feet. 



Massachusetts, Storer. New York, Mitchill, Dekay. Caribbean Sea, Bancroft. 

 ■'From Nantucket to Brazil," Dekay. 



Squalua zygsna, Lin., Syst. Nat., i p. 399. 



" " Hammer-headed Shark, Shaw's Hi. Zoo]., v. p. 334, pi, lot. 



" « " " Mitchill, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. of N. T., I. p. 482. 



Zygaena malleus, Hammer- head, Val., Memoires du Museum d'Hist. NaL., IX. p. 422, pi. 11, fig. 1. 



" " " Jenyns's Brit. Vert., p. 507, Bp. 196. 



" " " Yarrell's Brit. Fishes (2d edit.), n p 51.11, fig. 



" " " Storer, Supplement to Report, Bost. Journ. Nai. Hist., iv. p. 185. 



" " Dekay's Report, p. 362 pi 62, fig. 204 



GENUS IX. SQUATINA, Dumeril. 

 Body very much depressed ; head flat, rounded anteriorly ; both eyes on 

 the upper surface ; temporal orifices large, behind the eyes ; mouth at the end 

 of the snout ; pectoral fins large, attached anteriorly to the head, the posterior 

 edge free ; two dorsal fins, both behind the ventrals ; no anal fin. 



1. Squatina Dumerili, Lestjeur. 



Head bordered on each side by a white membrane ; head and fins a bluish ash-gray, with 

 reddish tints upon the head and margin of the fins ; abdomen, throat, and pectoral and anal 

 fins, marked by large red spots ; nostrils with a broad, ciliated skin on each side, as in the 

 Barbel. Teeth lanceolate, rather gibbous in front ; there are six or seven distinct rows, hav- 

 ing each five teeth. 



D. (?). P. (?)• V- (?)• C. (?). Length, 3 to 4 feet. 



Dekay supposes Lesueur's specimen was from Florida, and thinks it is found on the coast 

 of New York. 



Squatina Dumeril, Lesueur, Journ. Acadi Nat. Sc, i. p. 226, pi. 10. 



Squatina Dumerili, American Angel-fish, Dekay's Report, p. 303, pi. 62, fig. 203. 



GENUS X. PRISTIS, Latham. 



They unite to the elongated form of the Squali, in general, a body flat in 

 front, and gills pierced beneath, as in the rays. But their proper character 

 consists in a very long, depressed muzzle, in the form of the blade of a sword ; 

 armed on each side with strong osseous spines, pointed and trenchant, and 



