i) 
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. TPectorals 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 un the long cau- 
dal filament. Dorsal similar to anal, but lower, beginning close behind 
the occiput and running to the tail. 
Table of measurements. 
100ths 
Inches 0 
length. 
LOS RSG) EN | NE RS Rosen coda sog doa oo seiaces Ononb SSeS sen coCeSnodseoSbUsa Sees dpe ROESooS 21. 40 100 
Body: | | 
(CREA UGE SOG DMNSE ANA teas Sassoon senoosacoD cogsnboastiedasss cansseces0855 ss on0csoe as -33 | 1.6 
IDG NILE EYES SE Rp cons poncconOnody Sses SS SSSobD Ss acostatipsee deomooodassercsnar 15 8 
Head: 
(CBR pI@sLy Teme 38655 soe eOaceoos ecenos sane Jon ce enoGas sapdb cogsucesnoacdssesd 2.10 10 
(GRyeRUNE HCE) Mele 39505 sopin nooo boo Sen onnes 6 SaqcE se sopsondeeone asssenSssebaondgcond 25 1.2 
JOGA CE SMG 68 dae aca cacens see ogee con Sadsp do Adoabedc packudsmdsaauceia55 TS 7A0) | 7.6 
Diameteriotporbityese--e =.=) -==)2-\se~ la Baro Ub a RO aa OD OEHSbosuasocansecosodastas -18 1 
Anal: | 
Greabestubelon tas. sase meee stefani = ae slieialare = =ate FR DOH ORNS SAMCoRaD Aor aaSooeoasoS - 28 1.3 
Pectoral: 
ILGINGH A © oe CORSO OO SSS nC OS a Qo Bono Igoe Eee ape sp see nose Be. ccone oo mo one EeEds0 NON SH . 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 Untted 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. 
