2454 Bulletin //, United States National Museum, 



sal fin long and low, beginning near middle of body, of slender rays 

 embedded in the skin ; anal similar to dorsal, both connected to the cau- 

 dal tin; tail diphy cereal ; pectoral fins small, ventral fins wanting. Vent 

 remote from the head, without papilla. Air bladder none; caeca none. 

 Vertebra? numerous, small. The skeleton does not differ essentially from 

 that of Lycodopsis pacificus, with which it has been compared. The skull 

 is not at all depressed, the wide depressed form of the head of the fish is 

 due to the fleshy cheeks. The frontal takes up the greater part of the 

 top of the skull, the parietals are separated by the supraoccipital, which 

 extends forward to the f rentals. Opercles all present. Lower jaw large 

 and strong. Post-temporal scarcely so firmly attached as in Lycodes; the 

 clavicle long and slender. As here understood, this family consists of a 

 single species, a shore fish of the Northern Pacific, living in the gravel 

 between tide marks, and diving with great activity into the wet gravel 

 when disturbed. Its relations are apparently with the Zoarcidw. It is 

 not certain that Scytalina has any special affinity with the Congrogadidce, 

 in which group it was at first placed by Jordan & Gilbert. 



930. SCYTALINA, Jordan & Gilbert. 



Scytalina, JORDAN & GILBERT, Proe. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 266 (cerdale). 

 Scytalisciis, JORDAN & GILBERT, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1883, 111 (cerdale) ; substitute for 

 Scytalina on account of the earlier Scytalimis, Erichson, a genus of Coleoptera. 



Body very long and slender, covered with small scales. Head depressed, 

 shaped like the head of a snake, with tumid cheeks and a distinct neck. 

 Eyes small, superior. Mouth rather large, the lower jaw slightly project- 

 ing. Teeth conic, in single series on jaws, vomer, and palatines. Each 

 jaw with 2 canines in front. No lateral line; pseudobranchiae small. 

 Gill rakers almost obsolete. Dorsal fin very low, its first ray near the 

 middle of the body. Anal fin similar to dorsal, nearly as long. Tail 

 diphy cereal, the caudal well developed. (Diminutive of Scytale, from 

 6KvrdXrj, a viper.) 



2811. SCYTALINA CERDALE, Jordan & Gilbert. 



Head 8 ; depth 14. D. 41; A. 36. Head broader than body ; body much 

 deeper behind vent than anteriorly; snout depressed, rounded at tip; 

 cheeks very long; opercle short; interorbital space rather broad, concave 

 posteriorly ; eyes very small, anterior and superior, 10 to 12 in head, 2 in 

 snout, 3 to 4 in interorbital width ; upper lip separated by a crease from 

 the skin of the forehead; lower jaw scarcely projecting; edge of lower 

 lip with pores, and small dermal flaps and fringes ; maxillary extending 

 somewhat beyond eye ; anterior nostrils with small flaps. Lower jaw with 

 a series of close-set, even, conical teeth, besides 2 divergent canines in 

 front; upper jaw Avith similar teeth in several series in front, the canines 

 smaller and closer together. Pectorals inserted high, little longer than 

 eye ; insertion of dorsal slightly in front of anal, a little in front of mid- 

 dle of body ; rays of vertical fins low and weak, those of caudal most 

 developed; dorsal and anal joined to caudal; vent close in front of anal, 



