a7 
A78 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
them with me, and the decision has been reached that they should be 
placed in a new genus of the family Cottidw. Professor Jordan consid- 
ers this genus as forming one of the most abnormal types of Cottide, 
approached through Cottunculus and Psychrolutes, and also closely allied 
to Liparide. 
AMITRA, new genus. 
Cottoid fishes, with small head, elongate, attenuate, body covered with 
thick, lax, slimy skin. Ventral fins absent. Opercular stray present. 
Pseudobranchiz present. Gills 35, without slit behind last (?). Gill- 
openings closed below, restricted to small slits under the very small oper- 
culum.  Operculum very small, strap-shaped. Lower jaw included 
within the upper. Teeth weak, paved. Tirst five rays of the dorsal 
non-articulate, the others grading gradually into the flexible rings. 
32. Amitra liparina, new species. 
DESCRIPTION.—Body elongate, compressed posteriorly, very thin at 
the tail, covered with a gelatinous, lax, transparent skin, which is sep- 
arated from the body and the fins by a filmy, mucous intertissue. Great- 
est height of body (18) contained five and one-half times in its length, 
without caudal. 
Head thick, convex between eyes, its greatest width (11) nearly three- 
fourths its length (15), which is contained six and two-third times in the 
length of the body. Snout convex, protruding. Mouth under the snout 
and far back from its tip. Eyes lateral, in diameter (3) about half the 
width of the interorbital area (5). Nostril in front of eye. Porés along 
the upper lip. When the head is viewed from directly in front the 
opening of the mouth seems to be convex upward. 
The dorsal fin begins over the end of the pectoral, and the rays and 
outline of this, as well as of the anal, are hardly visible through the 
thick, lax skin. The rays are thick, but very flexible. The anal begins 
under the eighth to tenth dorsal ray. The dorsal and anal rays lie 
closely connected with those of the caudal, which are somewhat larger, 
and extend in a pencil-like point. 
The pectoral is broad, its lower base almost under the posterior margin 
of the orbit. It is composed of twenty-three rays, the six lowest of 
which are prolonged beyond the lower rays contiguous. The jugular 
disk cannot be found. 
Radial formula: D. 67; A. 54; C.6; P. 23. 
Color: Yellowish white, dusky toward the tail and blackish upon the 
anterior part of the head. Abdominal cayity showing black through 
the skin. 
Two other specimens of this or a related species were obtained (No. 
26179) from station 894, in 365 fathoms of water, but they are in poor 
condition and cannot at present be made out. 
