FJSHES COTTIDAE LEPTOCOTTUS ARMATUS. 



61 



margin of that fin, and provided posteriorly with a small flap. The ventrals are small and 

 slender, composed of four soft and one spinous rays. Their origin is but very little behind the 

 inferior portion of the insertion of the pectorals. The distance between their posterior extremity 

 and the vent is equal to the length of the same fins. The pectorals are broad and well 

 developed ; their extremities extend as far backwards as the third or fourth ray of the second 

 dorsal, and consequently near the origin of the anal and stretching beyond the vent. They are 

 composed of nineteen or twenty undivided rays, the inferior ones shorter and stouter than the 

 upper, and their intervening membrane emarginated. 



B VI : VI ; D VIII, 18 ; A 17 ; C 6, 1, 5, 4, 1, 7 ; V I, 4 ; P 20. 



The skin is perfectly smooth ; the lateral line conspicuous, nearer the dorsal than the ventral 

 outline along the anterior half of the flank, but running along its middle posteriorly, and 

 thus reach the base of the caudal fin. 



The ground color is of a coffee brown above, maculated or clouded with deep black. The 

 inferior surface of the heacl, the extremity of the maxillaries, the inferior part of the opercular 

 apparatus, the entire branchiostegal apparatus, the belly, ventral fins, the anal, and inferior 

 part of the tail, are of a uniform whitish or yellow, with a metallic reflect,, which extends even 

 to the sides. The caudal and pectoral fins are yellowish, transversely barred with large bands 

 of black. The dorsals are likewise yellow, longitudino-obliquely barred with black. A jet 

 black spot, moreover, is to be observed upon the upper and posterior margin of the anterior 

 dorsal fin. 



This species seems to be quite common along the Pacific coast, from Puget s Sound, Oregon, 

 to San Diego, California. The largest specimens were those from fort Steilacoom and the bay 

 of Monterey, and measured from twelve to fourteen inches. 



Reference to the figure. Plate XV, fig. 2, represents Leptocottus armatus, size of life. 



List of specimens. 



