368 ZOOLOGY. 



Iris yellow. Snout and top of head thickly covered with short, recurved, hooked prickles, diminishing in size from the 

 centre of head towards the circumference. Tail also thickly covered with the same, above and on the sides. No spine in 

 tail. Cartilaginous expansions along its upper ridge, near the end. Convexity about the same on each surface of the body ; 

 snout rounded above, flat below. Tail nearly cylindrical ; blunt. 



In June and July, 1854, several large skates were washed ashore on the sand flats near the 

 entrance of Shoalwater bay, which I had no means of preserving, but I took a sketch of one 

 of the largest. Though I did not see any of them alive, I think they had entered the bay 

 and were left by the ebb tide on some of the extensive sand bars, where they had died. I 

 have never heard of their occurrence at any other season. The Indians will not eat them very 

 often, but say they are not poisonous. C. 



A kind of stingaree or skate is not uncommon in Puget Sound. I saw, however, but one or 

 two specimens, and was unable to preserve any. It is probably the same fish described by 

 Dr. Cooper as found at Shoalwater bay. 



ICHTHYOMYZON CASTANEUS. 



Chestnut Lamprey. 



SP. CH. Head depressed, constituting the ninth of the total length ; body and tail compressed. Buccal disk sub-elliptical, 

 provided with a double series of short, tentacular fringes upon its periphery. Posterior margin of buccal aperture exhibiting 

 a series of nine teeth, disposed upon an arc of a circle. Eyes small and inconspicuous. Spiracle sub-tubular, raised above 

 the surface of the head. Origin of the dorsal fin equidistant between the anterior margin of the buccal disk and the apex 

 of the tail. Vent situated immediately in advance of the most elevated portion of the dorsal fin. Chestnut colored, of a 

 darker tint above than beneath. 



SYN. Ichthyomyzon caitaneus, GRD. Gen. Kep. Fishes, 381. 



A lamprey from Galena, Illinois? Nothing was observed concerning its habits. 



AMMOCOETES CIBARIUS, Grd. 



V 



Pacific Sand Launce. 



SP. CH. Body sub-cylindrical, somewhat compressed posteriorly, with its surface annulated. Buccal disk sub-elliptical, 

 interiorly papillated. Head and chest together contained four times and a half in the total length. Anterior dorsal fin 

 lower than the second, and separated from it by a space not quite the half of its length. Anal fin very low. Deep olivaceous 

 brown above ; lighter beneath. 



SYN. Ammocoetes cibarius, GRD Gen. Rep. Fishes, P. R. R. Surveys, vol. X, 1858, 383. 



