: ICHTHYOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS OF THE ALBATROSS. 421 
Taken at Makushin Bay, Unalaska Harbor, and near mouth of Unalaska River; 
_ at Shaw Bay, Unimak Island; at Herendeen Bay, and at the following stations in 
Bristol Bay: 3229, 3231, 3232, 3233, 3291, 3296, 3303; depth, 74 to 33 fathoms. 
; 62. Acanthocottus humilis (Bean). 
This species has a very slender body and an extremely wide, flat head, the latter 
strikingly triangular when viewed from above, due to the regular way in which it 
tapers toward the snout. The species is further distinguished by possessing but 9 
dorsal spines and by the presence of an irregular series of circular spinous plates 
above the lateral line. These plates are not present in very young individuals. 
They are beginning to make their appearance in a specimen 6 inches long, and are 
invariably present in all our larger specimens. In adults the region below the 
lateral line contains strong spinous prickles, mostly concealed in the skin and 
directed backward. Some of the anterior ones may be broader and may have more 
than one point, but none are circular with a rosette of short spinous points, as is 
the case with the dorsal series. 
Occipital crests long, gently converging behind, suddenly diverging near their 
posterior ends. Distance from supraorbital to occipital tubercle 14 times the dis- 
tance between the two supraorbital tubercles (the two measurements about equal in 
A. polyacanthocephalus). A sharp ethmoidal ridge extends backward from the level 
of the nasal spines to above front of pupil. Preopercular spines varying in length 
as in other species, the upper spine in older specimens usually not equaling diameter 
of eye. Pore behind last gill-arch always present. Spinous dorsal low, an unusu- 
ally long interval between the two dorsals. Below are the fin rays in 23 specimens: 
First dorsal. | Second dorsal. | Anal. 
Specimens .... 1 21 | 
The type of A. humilis has dorsal x-16; anal 13. According to Mr. Barton A. 
Bean, two specimens in the United States National Museum, collected by L. M. Tur- 
ner, at St. Michaels, have dorsal rx-15, anal 14, and dorsal x-15, anal 14. 
In the young, the dark dorsal bands are less sharply defined than in A. polyacan- 
thocephalus, and in adult specimens they entirely disappear, breaking up into sharply 
marked black spots and vermiculating blotches and lines, which closely cover the 
upper parts. 
Specimens were taken in the seine at the mouth of the Nushagak River, and one 
with a hand line at station 3290, Bristol Bay, 16 fathoms. All others were dredged 
in Bristol Bay, at depths of 3} to 21 fathoms, stations 3228, 3229, 3230, 3235, 3242, 3243, 
3244, 3245, 3248, and 3250. 
A. humilis closely resembles the description of A. jaok, with which it may well be 
identical. We do not venture to make this identification, as A. jaok is said to have 
but 7 dorsal spines, a number we have not found in 4. humilis. 
63. Acanthocottus verrucosus (Bean). 
Heretofore known only from the type (34 inches long) collected by Dr. Bean at Plover 
Bay, Siberia. The Albatross collected numerous specimens, the largest 16 inches 
(405 mm.) long. Adults possess the same combination of characters assigned to the 
immature type, having the top of the head strongly verrucose, the preopercular 
spine short, supraorbital and occipital filaments present, and the rays of dorsal and 
anal fins numerous. In addition they exhibit spinous plates along the sides, 
extremely high vertical fins, and very large supraorbital and occipital tubercles, 
from the summits of which the filaments arise. 
