420 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
Color in spirits: Upper parts brownish, with two very conspicuous white saddle- 
shaped bars extending downward and forward from back. The first of these, about 
as wide as orbit, extends from below the dorsal notch in a straight line toward 
lower axil of pectorals, including above the posterior margin of spinous dorsal and 
the extreme basal portion of first rays of soft dorsal. The second bar includes 
dorsally the terminal portion of soft dorsal upon which it extends and the anterior 
portion of caudal peduncle. Like the anterior bar, it is variable in width; it extends 
forward and downward to below caudal peduncle. The ground color becomes inten- 
sified along the margins of these light bars. Caudal with a light basal bar which 
becomes widened and pure white in its lower half, adding a third to the series of 
conspicuous light markings. In some specimens these white bars are tinged with 
brownish; hence less conspicuous. Under parts whitish. Lips and lower jaw with 
light and dark crossbars, which are often indistinct. Branchiostegal membranes 
sometimes with indistinct crossbars. The darker interspaces below soft dorsal and 
on caudal peduncle usually encircle the body below, but are sometimes (in males) 
broken on middle of sides with spots and blotches of white (see figure in Nelson’s 
report cited above). Axil of pectorals usually with two round white spots, most 
distinct in males. Basal portion of anterior face of pectorals dusky or black, in 
males with two round white spots; fin distally barred with light and dark. Caudal 
crossbarred. Anal and ventrals with faint crossbars or plain. Dorsals blackish. 
Taken abundantly in Bristol Bay, Alaska, at stations 3229, 3230, 3231, 3232, 3233, 
3234, 3244, 3247, and 3300; depths, 5 to 17 fathoms. 
We are unable to follow Dr. Bean in identifying this fish with Porocottus quadrifilis 
Gill (Proc. Acad, Nat. Sci. Phila. 1859, 166). The latter is described as having a 
single hooked preopercular spine, an opercle without rib or spine, and large pores 
on head and lower jaw. None of these statements apply to the present species. 
P. quadrifilis is also said to have five branchiostegal rays, but this is possibly an 
error. It is also described as having aslender superciliary filament, and one on each 
side of nape. We do not find, to offset these, any details in the original description 
which agree strikingly with our fish, even the color being inapplicable. 
61. Acanthocottus polyacanthocephalus (Pallas), 
This species closely resembles A. humilis, but differs in the much deeper and less- 
depressed head and body, the larger preopercular spines, the shorter and usually 
less-pronounced occipital crests, the absence of spinous plates on sides of body, and 
the presence of 10 (very rarely 9) spines in the dorsal fin. The coloration is also 
different, the dark bars on back being much better defined, not breaking up at an 
early age, as in A. humilis, into small black spots and blotches. None of our speci- 
mens show a pore behind the last gill, though this is constantly present in 4. humilis. 
In both species the top and sides of head, including nape, are covered with small 
dermal warts. Both agree, also, in possessing supraorbital and occipital tubercles, 
behind the former of which is a cluster of short diverging ridges. Neither species 
seems to possess filaments on the head. In a highly colored male of A. polyacantho- 
cephalus, exhibiting round white spots on lower part of sides and with horny tuber- 
cles on the inner surfaces of the pectoral rays, the sides of the body both above and 
below the lateral line are beset with sparse strong-embedded spines directed back- 
ward. Allother specimens are naked, and it is probable that 4. polyacanthocephalus 
never develops the circular spinous plates characteristic of A. humilis and some other 
species. 
The following table gives the fin rays in 32 specimens: 
Spinous dorsal. Soft dorsal. Anal. | 
| Beant a | | 
lit hese ooeee )B:¢ x 
Specimens - -- 2 30 
