316 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 
five to the anal. Pectorals broad, obtusely pointed, and composed of twenty-two delicate 
rays; its length 0°9, and width of its base 0°35. Two barbels on each side, having a com- 
mon origin from the hyoid bone, a short distance behind the symphisis of the chin. 'The 
posterior pair 1°1 long; the anterior pair half that length, and both with filamentous tips. 
Color. Head and upper part of the body and tail ash grey. Abdomen whitish; the lower 
part of the sides of the body pale, mixed with soiled yellowish. ‘Three obscure dusky longi- 
tudinal stripes on each side of the body: the first along the base of the dorsal fin ; another 
along the lateral line, and a third below this on the sides, only visible on the middle part of 
the body, and becoming effaced towards the tail. Dorsal, caudal and posterior portion of 
the anal edged with black on their margins. Pectorals yellow. Barbels white. Pupils black ; 
irides yellowish, varied with white. <A faint interrupted dusky streak on the lower portion of 
the membrane of the dorsal fin, near its base. 
Length, 9°0; of the head, 1°5. Depth of the body, 1°3. 
Fin rays; D.1205; P2253 Ais C.. 17. 
This very rare and curious species was taken ina seine in the harbor of New-York, in 
company with a schole of the Striped Bass (Labrax lineatus). It is doubtless the O. barba- 
tum of my venerable friend Dr. Mitchill, which is too succinctly noted in the work cited 
above. Swainson asserts that Cuvier and all authors describe the barbatum of Europe as 
having four distinct barbels, whereas there is in reality only one, divided at its base into four 
filaments ; no good representation, he adds, yet exists of this species. In the species under 
consideration, there are undoubtedly four, and I can not reconcile my account of it with the 
barbatum of foreign writers. It has so much the habit of some of the Gadide, and more 
especially of the genus Brotula, that our fishermen call it the Little Cusk. 
(EXTRA-LIMITAL.) 
O. stigma. (Ricuarpson, lL. c. p. 273.) Dilute brown, spotted, and with a purplish spot near the 
beginning of the dorsal fin. Length five inches. Kotzebwe’s Sound. 
Genus Firrasrer, Cuvier. Body hyaline. Dorsal so thin as to resemble a simple fold of the skin, 
Snout very obtuse. No barbels. 
F. borealis? (Prcx, Am. Acad. 2d part, Vol. 2, p. 46, pl. 4.) White eel; with a rounded tail. 
Dorsal of a uniform color. Br. 6; D. 76; P. 14; A. 49; ©. 22. Northern Coast. 
F. parryi. (Ricuarpson, |. c. p. 274.) Greenish brown above. Pectoral fins large, with thirty- 
seven rays, and extends beyond the vent. Length four to eight inches. Northern Seas. 
