PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 531 
turned straight backwards. The three pectoral filaments very slender, 
the uppermost about half as long as the pectoral fin, which is con- 
tained two and two-thirds times in the total length. 
Ventrals four and three-fourths times in total length, their tips nearly 
reaching the vent; all the rays once bifureate, the last united by mem- 
brane at its base to the abdomen. 
Bases of pectoral and ventral fins oblique, the pectoral filaments in 
advance of the ventrals, which are inserted vertically below the an- 
terior margin of the pectorals. 
Scales of moderate size, finely ciliate. Lower jaw, gill-membrane, and 
sides and upper surface of head scaleless. Scales of breast rather 
smaller than those of back. A row of scales along the basal part of the 
outer caudal rays, other fins scaleless. Lateral line simple. 
General color of body slaty gray or leaden upon the upper two-thirds, 
the lowest third white. A black spot on the dorsal between the fourth 
and fifth spines, traces of it between the fifth and sixth. Three rows of 
black spots on the second dorsal, the spots set saddlewise across the 
rays. Three rows of black spots on caudal, the terminal row between 
the rays. Anal white. Pectoral black, with whitish cloudings. Upper 
part of head rather darker than the body, a silvery tint about the pos- 
terior portion of maxillary, lower part of gill-cover, and base of pectoral. 
A single specimen of this species was procured in the market of San 
Francisco, October, 1880, and was taken off Point Reyes. It is now in 
the United States National Museum, numbered 27048. 
A large proportion of the fish brought to the San Francisco markets 
is procured in the tolerably deep water of the region between the rocky 
islets known as the Farallones, the entrance of San Francisco Bay, and 
Point Reyes, a rocky promontory some forty miles north of San Fran- 
cisco. This locality yielded the first specimens of Artedius quadriseri- 
atus Locktn., Odontopyxis trispinosus Locktn., Agonus vulsus J. & G., 
Brachyopsis verrucosus Locktn., Brachyistius rosaceus J. & G., Hippoglos- 
soides exilis J. & G., Atheresthes stomias J. & G., Cynicoglossus pacificus 
Locktn., and Glyptocephalus zachirus Locktn. Brachyopsis xyosternus 
J. & G. and Artedius pugettensis Steind. occur there in tolerable abun- 
dance, and it has now furnished the first example of a genus hitherto 
not known to occur north of the Gulf of Fonseca. 
Giinther (Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. ii, 195, 196) gives a short diagnosis of 
three species of Prionotus from the Pacific, P. horrens Rich., P. biros- 
tratus Rich., both from the Gulf of Fonseca, and P. miles Jenyns, from 
the Galapagos. P. stephanophrys most resembles the latter species, but 
has much longer pectorals and a different coloration, the latter being 
“above mottled brilliant tile-red; beneath silvery white”. 
