410 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
ous, retrorse, close-set, sharp teeth. Jaws bony, their lateral surfaces 
with retrorse roughnesses. Head naked, covered with skin. 
Gill-openings rather large, oblique, running downward and forward, 
separated by a rather narrow isthmus. Pectorals well developed, half 
longer than eye. No ventrals. Vent under middle of the length of the 
pectorals (when depressed); the anal fin beginning close behind it and 
extending to the tail; its rays soft and rather slender; the membrane 
delicate; its height greatest near the middle and anteriorly, where it is 
somewhat less than height of body, becoming obsolete on the long cau- 
dal filament. Dorsal similar to anal, but lower, beginning close behind 
the oeeiput and running to the tail. 
Table of measurements. 
100ths 
Inches of 
| length. 
| | 
Hixtreme lengthy <ciosn12 =~ telelerte Sere ane ete tele se ee aoe eee en 21. 40 100 
Body: 
(aréatestdepthi.( i aeerts a= nn a aehe eee eines oeeeaiae a semester een ate ee eet .33 | 1.6 
IDV EVM te SF oe oeene nosso Sen sjoad oases ocmoades sso staseis sao seconde se cans 15 | .8 
Head: 
Greatest lengtl..: o's ieee cision mene emission \eeee tS ae ee eee eer 2.10 10 
(realest depth. ce. eee cence eae memes nee cn = eee eee eae ete er SOW Socecec -25 1.2 
Length of snout 2.25 cccsin= enemas anaes ae meio sce siceie mepn i ie nomena ieynia sia late = er | 1.70 | 7.6 
Diameteriofiorbit-fe 2. Soe Geo oct os Seach ea Stee eee ae ence eet one ee aeeee -18 | ut 
Anal: } 
Greatest height... 3¢e nee eeee eras neteme cies ase 2a se hee a ee ee eee 28 | 1.3 
Pectoral: 
ener th... 2a cis ain atcmdins a Semen eeciae ost te alps. fettg see he = Se oye er ee ce at - 30 1.5 
The specimen which is the type of the present description was taken 
in May, 1880, in the harbor of Port Gamble, and was placed by its cap- 
tor in the museum of the University of Washington Territory, at Seattle. 
The president of the university, Prof. A. J. Anderson, presented it to 
the United States National Museum. Its movements in the water are 
said to be extremely active. 
Fishes of this type offer comparatively few specific characters, and we 
are able to separate this species from Nemichthys scolopaceus Rich. of the 
Atlantic by differences in proportion only. According to the detailed 
description and figure of the latter species given by Lowe and Brandt 
(Leptorhynchus or Belonopsis leuchtenbergi, Mém. Acad. St. Pétersb. Sav. 
Etrang., 1854, vii, 171-174), Nemichthys avocetta is distinguished by the 
much slenderer ‘head, longer beak, and higher anal fin, the greatest 
height of the latter being nearly equal to the length of the pectoral 
and more than the depth of the head. So far as known to us, this is 
the first species of the genus thus far taken in the Pacific. A recent 
newspaper account of the capture of a sea-serpent at Victoria, British 
Columbia, perhaps refers to a second example of the same species. 
SEATTLE, WASH., June 10, 1880. 
