THE DISCOBOLI. 73 



B. 6 ; D. 45-48 ; A. 38-40 ; P. 34-37 ; C. 12-14 ; Vert. 52 (10 + 42) ; 

 Creca 26. 



Elongate, much compressed and tapering posteriorly, rather thin behind 



the abdomen, slender at the base of the caudal, broad and high between the 



pectorals. Head high and broad, prominent at the nape, length a little more 



than the depth, nearly one fourth of the total without the caudal, forehead 



depressed. Snout broad, blunt, rounded, rather deep, as long as the eye. 



Mouth anterior, broad, maxillary subtending the eye, jaws about equal. 



A broad interruption in the lower lip in the middle of the chin. Teeth 



small, in pavement, tricuspid in younger specimens, simple in old. Some of 



those from which this description is drawn show the three-pronged teeth in 



the outer rows, and an approach to the simple in the inner. A series of 



five or six pores on each side, just above the upper lip from the snout to the 



postorbital region ; another of six or seven pores from the chin toward the 



upper angle of the gill opening. Posterior nostril reduced, pore-lik^ on 



the interorbital space ; anterior in front of the eye, tubular. Between and 



a little in front of the tubes are a couple of large pores. Eye moderately 



large, in the anterior half of the head, lateral, about the length of the snout, 



once in the interorbital space, one and one fourth times in the disk, and three 



and one half times in the length of the head. Disk small, little longer than 



wide, one and one fourth times as long as the eye, distant from the mouth 



one and one third times the length, which is equal to half the distance to 



the anal fin. Vent about midway from disk to first ray of the anal. Gill 



opening little wider than the eye, one third of its extent in front of the base 



of the pectoral. One single and three double gills. Pseudobranchs small. 



Opercular spine rather broad. Skin thin, loose, easily carried away, that of 



the males in breeding season roughened with small spine-bearing papillse. 



Dorsal and anal continuous with the caudal, the union occupying nearly 



half the length of the last, the anal extending a little farther back than the 



dorsal. Caudal rays less than two thirds as long as the head, hinder margin 



of the fin slightly rounded, narrow. Pectorals broad and rounded in the 



upper portion, reaching the anal fin ; in the lower portion fringed ; several 



of the rays at the sides of the disk, much longer than those immediately 



above them, form a notch in the margin, a fold imiting the fins in front 



of the disk. There is no apparent notch in the dorsal ; like the anal, it 



rises gradually, and attains its greatest extent in the posterior third of its 



length. 



10 



