Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 2317 



tines; a few teeth in front of jaw which bite against the premaxillary 

 teeth ; vomer with 1 or 2 irregular rows of large blunt teeth ; head with 

 many fleshy tentacles, 1 over each eye, a row around lower jaw, 1 on end 

 of maxillary, and a row around preopercle ; opercle ending in 2 diverging 

 spines, the lower shorter; subopercle ending in a spino, its tip equal with 

 the lower opercular spine, these spines not piercing the skin; gill rakers 

 very short, scarcely developed. Body and fins covered with a soft smooth 

 skin, which is exceedingly loose nearly to the ends of fin rays, and entirely 

 covering the dorsal spines. Dorsal spines very short but stout ; soft dorsal 

 longer and higher than anal, but in other ways similar, reaching past base 

 of caudal rays; pectoral short, as wide as long, round and fan-shaped 

 behind, reaching to vertical from base of fourth dorsal ray; origin of 

 ventral far in front of pectorals, the fins reaching to the vertical from the 

 posterior edge of spinous dorsal; caudal well rounded, fan-shaped when 

 spread. Color very pale yellowish brown, thickly covered with round 

 spots of dark brown, those on head smaller; belly with numerous spots, 

 the largest as large as eye ; back with many oblong blotches, besides small 

 round spots; fins blotched and banded. Gulf of Mexico, in deep water. 

 This form has a very different coloration from 0. tau and the texture of its 

 skin and flesh is also less firm, but the technical differences are slight and, 

 it is rather a deep-water variety than a species, (pardus, leopard.) 



Batrachus taupardus, GOODE & BEAN, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1879, 336, Pensacola Snapper 

 Banks; JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 751, 1883; MEEK & HALL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. 

 Phila.1885, 60. 



860. PORICHTHYS, Girard. 



(MIDSHIPMEN.) 

 Porichthys, GIRARIX Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1854, 141 (notatus). 



Body rather elongate; head not very broad, depressed, the lower jaw 

 projecting. Dorsal spines 2; pectoral broad, without foramen in axil; 

 opercle very small, its posterior part developed as a strong, single spine; 

 suboperculum feebly developed, narrowed and not ending in a spine; no 

 scales on body ; spines solid, without venom glands; several lateral lines 

 on sides of head and body, composed of pores and shining spots, some of 

 these accompanied by cirri; canine teeth present; vertebrae 12 + 31; 

 frontal region depressed, forming a triangular area below level of tem- 

 poral region, its median ridge very low. Branchiostegals 6; interorbital 

 area short, wide, and with shallow grooves. Air bladder more or less 

 deeply divided into 2 lateral parts. Pyloric appendages none. Species 

 American ; remarkable for the very great development of mucous pores, 

 some of which simulate the photophores of Myctophum, but are different in 

 origin and not at all luminous. (rt6po$, pore; iyftvc,, fish; in allusion to 

 the extraordinary development of the mucous system. ) 



NOTE. The following account of the distribution, structure, and development of the 

 phosphorescent organs of Porichthysis furnished us by Prof. Charles "Wilson Greene, who 

 has made a careful study of these organs : 



" Porichthys has numerous lines of conspicuous bright silvery spots distributed in rows 

 over the surface of the body. These spots have been called phosphorescent organs, 

 although no such function has yet been observed, the name arising out of a superficial 



