274 Mr. C. T. Regan on the 



small conical teeth are present in tlie jaws and sometime-! on 

 the palate ; the gill-openings are rather wide, the gill- 

 membranes being joined to the isthmus below the prai- 

 operculum.' 



In Lumpenus lampetriformis there are 81 vertebra? (28 + 

 53) ; the skull has tlie interoibital region narrower and the 

 postorbital part siiorter and flatter above than in Chiroluphus^ 

 Dictyosoma^ Pholis, &c. 



It is doubtful whether more than one genus is really 

 definable : Lumpenus, Keinh., with a few species from 

 Arctic and northern seas. 



Family 7, Microdesmidae. 



Body elongate, covered with small scales ; no lateral line. 

 Vertical fins confluent ; dorsal long, anteriorly of slender 

 spines, posteriorly of soft rays; anal without spines; caudal 

 of 15 priucij^al rays ; pelvics subthoracic, of a small spine 

 and 1 or 2 soft rays. Mouth small, not protractile, termin-il, 

 oblique, with the lower jaw prominent ; teeth in the jaws 

 only ; eyes small ; suborbitals apparently not ossified ; gill- 

 openings small oblique slits in front of the lower part of the 

 pectorals. 



Three species, from the Pacific coast of Tropical America, 

 have been referred to two genera, Microdesnius and Cerdale. ■ 



In Microdesmus dipus, Giinth., I find that each pelvic fin i 



consists of a small spine and 2 soft rays, the outer simple, . ,f 



the inner bifid distally ; in some features this species recalls | 



the Stichaiid Cehedichtlitjs. I 



Family 8. Ptilichthyidae. 



Ptilichthys goodei, Bean, from the North Pacific, has the 

 naked body extremely elongate, tapering posteriorly, without 

 caudal fin ; the anterior part of the dorsal fin is formed of 

 short isolated spines, and the soft dorsal and anal are many- 

 rayed ; there are no pelvic fins. There is a broad mental 

 barbel; the mouth is terminal, non-protractile; the teeth S! 



form a single series in the jaws; the gill-membranes are i 



united but free from the isthmus, and the gill-openings are 

 restricted from above. According to Gilbert '^ the post- 

 temporal is not forked, but is a very slender bony rod; the 

 coracoids are well-developed and are not separated by carti- 

 lage ; the radials are large, hourglass-shaped, one on the 



* Gilbert, in Jord. & Everm. Fish. N. Amer. iii. pp. 24ol-24oi^ (1898). 



