466 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



continuous with the caudal, composed entirely of spines, of which a few 

 anterior ones are weak. 



Anal fin commencing a little in front of the middle of total length, 

 comi)osed of a couple of si)ines and a large number of split rays, con- 

 tinuous with the caudal. 



Caudal tin moderately long, pointed. 



Ventrals absent. 



Abdominal viscera as in Cryptaeanthodes. The stomach is a simple 

 straight sac. The intestine is short (three-fourths of total length in the 

 typical species). Pyloric caeca few, short, not greatly unequal in size. 



Type, Delolepis virgafus Bean. 



The close resemblance of Delolepis to Gryptacantliocles will be at once 

 observed. The two are nearly identical in every other respect save the 

 dermal structure. The muciferous channels are more developed in 

 Cryptaeanthodes, but the arrangement is similar. Delolepis is, therefore, 

 established as a distinct genus mainly on the single character of devel- 

 oped scales, a character which I consider of sufficient imj)ortance in this 

 small family to serve as a basis of subdivision. 



7. Delolepis virgatus, new species. 



Captain i^^ichols forwarded two fine specimens of the fish which is 

 here described: one of them taken at the head of Kingcombe Inlet, 

 British Columbia, in 18 fathoms of nearly fresh water, August 2, 1880 

 (numbered 80 in the collector's list and called "eel''); the other caught 

 at Port Wrangel, Alaska, in the latter i)art of August, 1880 (numbered 

 111 in collector's list and called "eel"). These types are numbered 

 29149 and 29150 in the United States ^STational Museum Fish Register. 

 The smaller is 470 millimeters (18-i^ inches) and the larger 795 millime- 

 ters (31-1% ihches) in length. 



The body is eel-shaped, moderately compressed and tapering in its 

 second half; its greatest height, which is about midway between pectoral 

 and vent, contained 11 times in total length and equal to greatest width 

 of head; greatest width of body slightly exceeds length of upper jaw. 

 Beginning at a short distance behind the origin of the dorsal fin small, 

 oblong, cycloid scales, closely imbricated, cover a strip of the body along 

 the region traversed by the lateral line; the scaled area gradually widens 

 until, from the vent backward, the whole tail is covered except a very 

 narrow strip along the dorsal and anal fin bases. 



The length of the head to end of operculum is contained from 6 to G^ 

 times in total length; its width and depth are nearly equal. Width of 

 interorbital area, measured on the bone,. equals length of snout and one- 

 third of length of lower jaw. The supramaxillary extends a little behind 

 the eye; its length is contained 3 times in distance from snout to dorsal 

 fin. The length of lower jaw is contained V2h times in total length. The 

 eye is one-half as long as the snout and one-eleventh as long as the 

 head. The nostrils are placed immediately behind tlie upper lip and as 

 far apart as the limits of the interorbital space. 



