HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 155 



The fin rays are as follows : D. 8 - 24. P. 21. V. 1 - 4. A. 2 - 1 - 20. C. 19*. 



Remarks. I have seen a single specimen only of this species, which was taken from 

 one of the bridges connecting Charlestown with this city. According to Dekay, it is 

 found in great abundance at New York in the autumn. 



Massachusetts, STOKER. New York, MITCHILL, CUVIER, DEKAY. 



GENUS IX. ARGYREIOSUS, LACEP. 



Body much compressed. Spines between the dorsal fins. Dorsal, ventral, and anal 

 rays filamentous. 



ARGYREIOSUS CAPILLARIS, Dekay. 



The Hair-finned Dory. 



(PLATE XIV. FIG. 3.) 



Zeus caplilaris, Hair-finned Dory, MITCHILL, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. of N. Y., I. p. 383, pi. 2, fig. 2. 

 Argyreiosus capillaris, Hair-finned Argyreiose, DEKAY, Report, p. 125, pi. 27, fig. 82. 



" " STORES, Mem. Amcr. Acad., New Series, n. p. 356. 



" " " Synopsis, p. 104. 



Color. Of a beautiful silvery color, with several dark, almost black, transverse bands 

 crossing the upper part of the sides ; these bands disappear in the dead fish. The dorsal 

 and ventral filaments are black. 



Description. The body, which is perfectly smooth, is of an irregular rhomboidal form, 

 exceedingly compressed laterally. The forehead is high, and gradually slopes to the 

 snout, which is very prominent. 



The length of my specimen is two inches and five eighths ; its depth from the base 

 of the first dorsal across to the pectorals is about two inches ; its greatest thickness 

 is less than one quarter of an inch. The length of the head is seven eighths of an 

 inch. The jaws are equal when closed. The eyes are circular, and are a little more 

 than an eighth of an inch in diameter. The nasal orifices are directly in front of the 

 eyes. The branchial rays are exposed. A slightly raised line passes upward from the 

 upper portion of the operculum, curving backward before reaching the base of the first 

 dorsal. Just back of this commences the lateral line, which at its origin rises immedi- 

 ately, makes a semicircle of an inch in height, and is then continued in a straight line to 

 the tail. Three slight protuberances are situated anterior to the first dorsal fin. 



The first dorsal fin is composed of eight rays, the first of which is a minute spine ; 

 the second is a membranous ray prolonged into a filament, measuring in its whole extent 



