Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 2639 



lower eye; 3 or 4 rows of teeth on blind side of jaws, 1 on eyed side of 

 lower; eyes very large; infcerorbital a high, narrow rijige, somewhat 

 angulated behind, but with no conspicuous spine or tubercle; snout very 

 short, about \ eye; gill opening not extending above upper edge of pec- 

 toral. Scales cycloid, embedded, some distance apart anteriorly, their 

 edges not in contact; lateral line nearly straight, with a long dorsal 

 branch which reaches past middle of body. Dorsal and anal high ; origin 

 of dorsal on blind side on a level with premaxillary, its first 5 rays on 

 blind side ; origin of anal under base of pectoral ; pectoral of eyed side a 

 little larger than its mate; caudal well rounded. Color dark brown, usu- 

 ally mottled, the colors variable; our specimens from Puget Sound, very 

 dark, the fins colored like body, with light and dark spots; a conspicuous 

 black spot on lateral line on middle of sides. Pacific coast, from Sitka to 

 San Diego. This species is comparatively common in rather deep water 

 and about rocks, being most abundant about Puget Sound. Its apparent 

 abundance as compared with the other species of the genus is doubtless 

 due to its inhabiting shallower waters than they. It is quite variable in 

 form. The above description from a specimen, 6 inches long, from Seattle. 

 (ccenosus, muddy.) 



Pleuronickthys coenosus, GIRAED, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1854, 139, San Francisco; 

 GIRARD, U. S. Pao. R. R. Surv., x, Fishes, 151, 1858 ; LOCKINGTON, Rep. Com. Fisheries 

 California, 1878-79, 45 ; LOCKINGTON, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 1879, 97 ; JORDAN & GILBERT, 

 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 50 ; JORDAN & GILBERT, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 453 ; JOR- 

 DAN & GILBERT, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 1881, 68 ; JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 830, 1883 ; 

 JORDAN, Nat. Hist. Aquat.Anim., 189,1884; JORDAN & Goss, Review Flounders and 

 Soles, 282, 1889 ; JORDAN, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci. 1895, 852. 

 Parophrys ccencsa, GUNTHER, Cat., iv, 456, 1862. 



1030. HYPSOPSETTA, Gill. 



(DIAMOND FLOUNDERS.) 

 Hypsopsetta, GILL, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1864, 195 (guttulatus). 



Eyes and color on the right side ; body broad, ovate, rhomboid ; mouth 

 very small ; teeth slender, equal, acute, in several series ; lips thick, not 

 plicate; lateral line nearly straight, with an accessory dorsal branch; 

 scales small, smooth ; dorsal fin beginning on the dorsal ridge, not turned 

 to the blind side at its insertion ; anal spine present ; caudal fin convex ; 

 gill rakers little developed. This genus consists of a single species, 

 abundant on the coast of California. It is very close to Pleuronichthys, 

 from which it differs only in a few characters of comparatively minor 

 importance. Its range is in shallower and warmer water than that of the 

 species of Pleuronichthys, and, in accordance with this fact, its flesh is 

 firmer and its number of vertebrae fewer than in the latter genus, (vipi, 

 deep; i^ffrra, flounder.) 



3008. HYSOPSETTA GUTTULATA (Girard). 

 (DIAMOND FLOUNDER.) 



Head 3| ; depth If. D. 68 ; A. 50 ; scales 95. Body very deep, somewhat 

 angulated near middle of back and belly ; eyes moderate, separated by a 

 flattish, raised area; head without spines or tubercles; scales of opercular 



