Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 2287 



2625. LONCHOPISTHUS MICROGNATHUS (Poey). 



Head 5 in total; depth 6. D. X, 17; A. II, 16; scales 80; eye 3 in head. 

 Body elongate, compressed, snout short; maxillary reaching \ an eye's 

 diameter behind the eye; no teeth on vomer; no second row of teeth in 

 jaws; no scales on head except on cheek; lateral line almost touching 

 profile of hack. Caudal long and pointed as in Gobius oceanicus. Dark 

 brown, paler below; 20 narrow vertical whitish bands from back to belly, 

 the first 2 on cheek, the third on opercle; fins colored like body, except 

 the pectorals, which are yellow, the edge orange. Vertebra? 10 -f- 18 = 28. 

 Length 4 inches. Cuba; rare (Poey) ; only the types known, examined by 

 us in the National Museum. (/uixpoz, small; yraOo$, jaw.) 



Opisthognathus micrognathus, POEY, Meinorias, n, 287, 1860, Cuba. (Coll. Poey.) 

 Lonchopisthus micrognathus, GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1862, 241. 



Family CXCII. BATHYMASTERID^E. 



(THE RONQUILS.) 



Body rather elongate, moderately compressed, covered with small, cten- 

 oid scales. Head rather large, subconic. Eyes large. Mouth moderate, 

 nearly horizontal, the lower jaw slightly projecting; lips full; premaxil- 

 laries protractile, not extending to angle of the mouth ; maxillary with- 

 out supplemental bone, not slipping under the narrow preorbital. Teeth 

 moderate, in a cardiform band in each jaw, the outer somewhat enlarged; 

 bands of teeth on vomer and palatines. No barbels; no crests or spines 

 on head. Branchiostegals 6. Gill membranes scarcely or broadly con- 

 nected, free from the isthmus; gill rakers few, very short. Pseudo- 

 branchiae large. Opercular bones unarmed. Mucous pores numerous on 

 top and sides of head, sometimes provided with fringed flaps. Lateral 

 line conspicuous, placed high, not quite reaching the caudal fin, its scales 

 sometimes enlarged. Dorsal fin long, continuous, moderately high, a 

 few of the foremost rays inarticulate, none of them pungent or spine-like ; 

 the posterior rays branched; anal fin long, similar to the dorsal; caudal 

 convex; pectorals rather broad, their bases extending obliquely down- 

 ward and backward, their rays all branched; ventrals slightly in front of 

 pectorals, 1, 5, close together, the inner rays longest. Skeleton well ossi- 

 fied. Pyloric caeca few (2 or 3). No anal papilla. Vertebrae in large 

 numbers, about 14 -f- 35. Three species known, from the Northern 

 Pacific; here referred to 3 genera. The relations of the group are uncer- 

 tain ; externally they resemble the Opisthognathldce, but the relation can 

 not be close, and the number of vertebras is greatly increased. 



a. Gill membranes not connected below. 



b. Head naked; scales in lateral line not enlarged; only first 3 or 4 rays in dorsal 

 fin unbranched ; pores of head with small flaps. BATHYMASTER, 844. 



bb. Head scaly on cheeks ; scales in lateral line enlarged ; anterior 20 to 30 rays of 

 dorsal fin unbranched ; pores of head mostly without flaps. 



RONQUILUS, 845. 



aa. Gill membranes broadly connected ; cheeks scaly ; scales in lateral line enlarged ; 

 about 15 of anterior rays of dorsal simple. RATHBUNELLA, 846. 



