[25] FLOUNDERS AND SOLES. 249 



20. PARALICHTHYS OBLONGUS. 



(The Four-Spotted Flounder.) 



[Plate VIII.] 



Pleuronecles oMongus MitcMll, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc, 1, 391, 1815 (New York). 



Chcenopsetta oblonga Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1864, p. 218. 



Paralichthys oblongus Goode, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1880, p. 472 (Southern New 



England). Jordan and Gilbert, Syn. Fish. N. A., 1882, p. 824 (specimens 



from Wood's Holl, Mass.). 

 Platessa quadrocellata Storer, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 1847, p. 242. Storer, Hist. 



Fish. Mass., p. 397, pi. 31, fig. 3 (Provincetown). 



Habitat.— Coasts of New England and New York. 



This species is rather common on the coast of Cape Cod and the 

 neighboring islands, but it has been rarely noticed elsewhere. The 

 limits of its range are not yet definitely known. 



It is a very strongly marked species. Its translucency of coloration 

 indicates that it lives in deeper water than the other species of the genus. 



Genus XI.— ANCYLOPSETTA. 



Ancylopsetta Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1864, 224 (quadrocellata). 

 Notosema Goode & Bean, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., XIX, 193, 1883 (dilecta). 



Type : Ancylopsetta quadrocellata Gill. 



This genus is also very close to Paralichthys, differing in the subses- 

 sile caudal fin, the short gill-rakers, the rough scales, and in the pro- 

 longation of the anterior rays of the dorsal fin. These characters are 

 found in quadrocellata as well as in dilecta, the distinctions of the sup- 

 posed genus, Notosema, being chiefly of degree. Besides the two spe- 

 cies here mentioned, a third as yet undescribed, the types having been 

 accidentally destroyed, was obtained by Professor Gilbert at Panama. 



ANALYSIS OF SPECIES OF ANCYLOPSETTA. 



a. Anterior (produced) rays of dorsal shorter than head ; pectoral of eyed side about 

 two-thirds length of head. Body oval, very deep. Depth of caudal peduncle half 

 length of head ; head 4 in length ; depth, 1$. Gill-rakers very short, 2-f-6 or 7. 

 Mouth small; maxillary reaching middle of eye, 2-J- to 2f .in head; teeth small, 

 the canines scarcely differentiated ; eyes moderate, separated by a very narrow, 

 sharp, scaly ridge ; scales of both sides ctenoid ; ventral of eyed side produced, 

 about half as long as head ; no anal spine ; color dark olive, with four large ob- 

 long ocellated blackish spots, the first above the arch of the lateral line, the three 

 posterior forming an isosceles triangle, the hindmost being on the lateral line. D. 

 70; A. 55; Lat. 1. 85 — 58 pores in straight part ; vertebra, 9 + 26 = 35. 



Quadrocellata, 21. 



aa. [Anterior (produced) rays of dorsal longer than the head, the longest half depth 

 of body, pectoral of eyed side nearly as long as head ; body elliptical ; head 3| 

 in length, depth 2 ; gill-rakers subtriangular, moderately numerous ; mouth moder- 

 ate, the maxillary 2£ in head ; teeth unequal, those in front much largest ; eyes 

 large, 3 in head, the interorbital space very narrow ; scales highly ctenoid ; ven- 

 tral of eyed side produced, more than three times length of right ventral ; color 

 dark brown, speckled with darker, three large subcircular ocellated spots nearly as 



