130 U. S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS ZOOLOGY GENERAL REPORT. 



LEPADOGASTER MAEANDRICUS, Grd. 



SPEC. CHAR. Upper surface of head very much depressed ; eyes moderate, and directed upwards and forwards. Angle of 

 the mouth extending to a vertical line drawn in advance of the eye. Upper jaw slightly protruding beyond the lower. Dorsal fin 

 nearly equal to the caudal in length, but inserted more anteriorly. Ground color olivaceous brown, with darkish work of black 

 line all over the head and body. Inferior surface of head and belly dull yellow. 



SYN. Lepadogaster reticulatus, GRD. in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. VII, 1854, 155. 



The specific name which, on a former occasion, we had bestowed upon this fish having proved 

 preocupied by a species of the Meditteranean sea, described by Risso, &quot; Histoire naturelle de 

 1 Europe meridionale, vol. Ill, 1826, 277,&quot; we have availed ourselves of the present opportunity 

 to give it another appellation, although the latter, with several others of its congeners, may 

 hereafter constitute a generic group distinct from that of Lepadogaster proper. 



The head is broad, semi-elliptical when viewed from above. Its upper surface, which is very 

 much depressed, is declivous sideways as well as towards the snout. It constitutes nearly the 

 third of the entire length, which, in the specimen described, is about three inches and a half. 

 Its inferior surface is flattened. The mouth is broad in a front view of it, but not deeply cleft, 

 for its angle extends to a vertical line drawn across the anterior rim of the orbit only. The 

 upper jaw is somewhat protruding beyond the symphysis of the lower one. The eye is small, 

 sub-elliptical in shape, situated towards the upper surface of the head, and directed upwards 

 and forwards ; its horizontal diameter is contained about six times in the length of the sides of 

 the head. The opercular apparatus is entirely buried in the muscles of that region, and which 

 are quite developed. The branchial apertures are continuous under the throat, overlapped by 

 the anterior margin of the membranous abdominal expansion. The branchiostegal rays are six 

 on either side, though three only, the innermost, are fully developed, the others remaining 

 quite rudimentary upon the middle region of the throat. The base of the anterior portion of 

 the pectoral fin is very fleshy, bearing a membranous pouch-like expansion quite conspicuous 

 posteriorly to the edge of the opercle. 



The body is anteriorly broader than deep ; it diminishes gradually in depth and width 

 towards the origin of the tail, which is quite compressed and very much reduced, terminated by 

 a slender caudal fin rounded off upon its external margin. The origin of the dorsal fin is 

 situated opposite the vent and further apart from the extremity of the snout than the tip of the 

 caudal. It is composed of articulated, but simple and undivided rays, thirteen or fourteen in 

 number, the tips of the posterior ones not quite reaching the insertion of the caudal The anal 

 begins a little further back than the dorsal, being as deep as the latter is high, and extending 

 a little further posteriorly, the tips of the posterior rays nearly reaching the base of the caudal. 

 The rays of which it is composed are all simple and articulated. Even the rays of the caudal 

 are simple and undivided, as usual articulated. The ventrals are inserted upon the middle 

 of the convexity of the pelvic bones. Their rays are sub-cartilaginous, imbedded in the 

 membranous disc which they constitute, either nine or ten in number and simple, or else four 

 or five branched ones, a fact which we could not make out clearly, having but one specimen at 

 our command. At any rate we could see no rudiment of a spiny ray, such as is said to exist 

 in Gobiesox. The anterior pectorals are broad, exteriorly rounded, composed of twenty-three 

 articulated but undivided rays, the twenty uppermost being slender, and forming a fan-shaped 

 fin situated upon the side of the chest, whilst the three lowermost are stouter, somewhat 

 independent from the other, and situated under the head, where they complete the disc iormed 



