198 U. S. P. E. B. EXP. AND SUEVEYS ZOOLOGY QENEEAL EEPOET. 



of the third degree is well marked. Their external spine is slender and acute. The tip of the 

 longest rays is made to reach and overlap the vent when brought backwards along the abdomen. 

 The pectorals are long and slender ; their posterior extremity reaching posteriorly a vertical 

 line scarcely attained by the extremity of the ventrals. Their entire base is placed in advance 

 of a vertical line drawn at the origin of the dorsal fin. The rays sub-divide twice, with 

 traces of a sub- division of the third degree. 



The formula of the fins is as follows : 



Br. VI : VI ; D IX, 27 ; A III, 36 ; 4, 1, 6, 6, 1, 3 ; V I, 5 ; P 1, 26. 



The scales are of moderate development. The lateral line, which contains about eighty-five 

 of them, is nearly concurrent with the dorsal outline, with a tendency sometimes to assume an 

 appearance rather more gibbous than the back itself. There are seven longitudinal rows of 

 scales between the lateral line and the dorsal groove, and about twenty between that same line 

 and the abdominal contour. The scales (Figs. 3 5) are deeper than long, posteriorly convex, 

 superiorly and inferiorly rounded, and anteriorly nearly straight. The radiating furrows are 

 rather numerous. The dorsal groove is very short, extending from the sixth or seventh dorsal 

 spine to the third or fourth articulated ray ; the sheath is formed anteriorly by three and pos 

 teriorly by two rows of scales, the inferior rows being smaller than the superior one. 



The ground color above is ash or greyish-brown. The sides and the abdomen are dull yel 

 lowish or whitish, with a silvery tint. The caudal, dorsal, and anal fins are sulphur yellow at 

 their base, and greyish towards their extremities ; the anal, besides, is provided anteriorly with 

 a dark diffused spot. The base of the ventrals is yellow ; the rest is deep purple. The pectorals 

 are of a uniform light yellow. 



Ten young ones, of an average length of an inch and three or four tenths, were found in the 

 ovaries of the specimen just described. Their general form is elongated, sub-fusiform in profile? 

 already very much compressed. The head is anteriorly rounded, with its upper outline gradually 

 sloping towards the snout. The mouth exhibits its peculiar oblique position. The posterior 

 margin of the caudal is convex ; the soft portions of both the dorsal and anal are much higher 

 posteriorly than anteriorly, the reverse of what exists in the adult, and stretching beyond the 

 base of the caudal. The spinous portion of the dorsal is very low, and the spines are gradually 

 ascending from the first to the last. Seven of the latter could be easily detected. The yolk 

 bag is still conspicuously large. The ventral fins have already acquired a certain development 

 as well as the pectorals. The articulated rays of the dorsal and anal fins are all undivided yet, 

 whilst those of the caudal are already bifurcated. The anterior rays of the anal, which corres 

 pond to the undivided ones in Embiotoca, are more slender and more crowded than the rest. 

 The anal spines are all three visible. 



The species inhabit the bay of San Francisco, California, and the coast further north. 



Plate XXXVII, fig. 1, represents the female sex of Ennichthys meyalops, size of life. 



Fig. 2 is a section across the line of greatest depth. 



Fig. 3, a scale from the dorsal region. 



Fig. 4, a scale from the lateral line. 



Fig. 5, a scale from the side of the abdomen. 



Plate XXVI, fig. 10, represents the young of the same species double its size. 



