304 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



238. Ageneiosus valenciennesi. 



Agemo'^us 7nilUar!s Valencieunes, Voy. d'Orbigny ix, atlas ii, pi. iv, 



fig. 1, 1847. 

 Afjeneiosufi miUtarls Cuv. & Val. Hist. Nat. Poiss. xv, 232, 1840 (La 



Plata; Buenos Ayres); Kiier, SB. Ak. Wien, xxvi, 437, 1857 



(Cnjaba); Glinther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. v, 191, 1864 (copied). 

 A geniosus valenciennesi 'Blee^i.er, Silnres de Suriname 82, 1864 (based 



on Valenciennes 1. c); Eigenm. & Eigenm. Proc. Cal. Acad. 2d 



Ser. 1, 150, 1888 (Kio Puty). 

 Habitat: La Plata to Eio Piity. 



The specimens figured and described above are not 

 identical with the specimen figured by Bloch. In this 

 species the upper jaw projects considerably beyond the 

 lower, while in the specimen figured by Bloch the upper 

 jaw is shorter than the lower. Kner states that in his 

 specimen the fulcrum of the dorsal spine is also provided 

 with hooks; this is not the case with the single specimen 

 examined by us. 



Body elongate, compressed, the width 1| in its depth. 

 Head short, depressed, spatulate, the profile steep, con- 

 cave. Occipital process short, fused with the dorsal 

 plate, Y-shaped, the branches longer than the basal por- 

 tion. Fontanel continued to the occipital process; bones 

 of the skull striate, covered with thin skin; snout and 

 sides of head with vermiculating mucous canals. Width 

 of the head 1-|, width at the rictus 1|; depth of head 2f 

 in its length. 



Eye strictly lateral, equidistant from tip of snout and 

 margin of opercle, covered with skin which is thickened 

 in front and behind; its diameter 61 in the head, 3 in 

 the interocular. 



Maxillary barbel spinous, erectile, with numerous hook- 

 like spines on its anterior margin at tip, reaching be- 

 yond the anterior margin of the eye. 



Snout depressed, somewhat pointed, projecting beyond 

 the lower jaw as far as 5 diameter of eye; intermaxillary 



