2358 Bulletin 4.7, United States National Museum. 



2697. MALACOCTENUS GILLII (Steindachner). 



Head 4; depth 4; eye 4 in head; snout 3; interorbital 6 in head. D. 

 XIX, 11; A. II, 17 ; P. 14 ; scales 43. Head pointed, conic anteriorly ; snout 

 longer than eye; a rather high tentacle above the eye, slender and split to 

 the base, numerous others on the side of the nape ; teeth not described. 

 First three dorsal spines wider apart than others, first longest; eighth 

 to tenth spines highest, \ head; highest soft ray 1 in head; dorsal 

 deeply notched. Body greenish gray, with brown spots or faint cross 

 bands; head and dorsal marbled with darker; ventrals white, the longest 

 ray a little longer than head, reaching anal ; anal edged with dark ; pec- 

 toral as long as head. Barbados. Two specimens, the larger 2 inches 

 long. (Steindachner.) This species may be a Ldbrisomus. (Named for 

 Dr. Theodore Gill.) 



Olinus gillii, STEINDACHNER, Ichth. Notizen, vi, 46, 1867, Barbados. 



2698. MALACOCTENUS BIMACULATUS (Steindachner). 



Head 4|; depth 4|. D. XX, 10; A. II, 19; ventral 3; scales 44. Near to 

 M. delalandi, but the body deeper (said to be 5| in the latter species, which 

 is not the case). Profile to snout steep; eye a littl shorter than snout, 

 3^ in head; jaws equal, each like the vomer with j. row of teeth; max- 

 illary reaching about to front of pupil. Interorbital space narrow, more 

 than ^ width of eye ; a very slender, rather long, bifid tentacle above eye ; 

 tentacles on the nape, upper 1 almost as long as tentacle above eye. 

 Upper margin of dorsal weakly notched between first and fifth spines, more 

 deeply between spines and soft rays, the former as in M. delalandi ; longest 

 soft rays 1 in head ; longest spines 2 in head ; first 4 spines more widely 

 separated than the others ; pectoral and ventral as long as head ; caudal a 

 little shorter. Body brown, with dark-brown bauds arid numerous black- 

 ish spots, only the cross bands on the head strongly marked ; tips of the 

 anal rays whitish; above these a bluish violet streak; pectoral with 2 

 milk-white spots at base ; a large black isolated spot at the base of the 

 first 4 dorsal spines, a second on the last 4 spines, extending on the body ; 

 anal and caudal thickly spotted with brown. Small rocky islands to the 

 north of Cuba. (Steindachner.) Not seen by us; evidently close to Mal- 

 acoctenus delalandi, but the scales larger. (Ms, two; maculatm, spotted.) 



Olinus bimaculatus, STEINDACHNER, Ichth. Beitr., v, 180, 1876, small, rocky islands north 

 of Cuba. 



2699. MALACOCTENUS DELALANDI (Cuvier & Valenciennes). 



Head 3i; depth 3| to 4. D. IV-XVI, 11; A. II, 18; scales 55. Form 

 rather stout, compressed ; snout not very short, rather pointed, the profile 

 gibbous above the eyes, thence declining straight to the tip of the snout; 

 mouth rather small, the maxillary reaching front of eye; teeth in a single 

 series in each jaw; vomer with a few teeth, none on palatines; eye large, 

 3| in head, as long as snout ; small slender cirri above the eyes, and a fringe 

 of moderately long filaments at the nape rather longer than the orbital 

 cirri. Outline of spinous dorsal emarginate ; first spine a little longer 

 than eye, the second, third, and fourth progressively shortened, the 



