2654 Bulletin $j, United States National Museum. 



and its allies by its greatly increased number of vertebrte, a character 

 accompanied by a similar increase in the number of fin rays. It is close 

 to niyptocej)Jialu8, but the lack of the cavernous structure of the bones 

 of the head, a structure peculiar to the species of that genus, sufficiently 

 distinguishes it. ({iinpos, small; 6r6fJ.cc, mouth.) 



a. Dorsal rays 85 to 93 ; anal raj r s 70 to 76 ; head very small, about 5 in length ; eye 4 



in head. KITT, 3024. 



act. Dorsal rays 102; anal ray 85; head 4 in length; eye 3 in head. PACIFICUS, 3025. 



3024. MICROSTOMUS KITT (Walbanm). 

 (SMEAR DAB.) 



Head 5 in length ; depth 2$. D. 85 to 93; A. 70 to 76; scales 130; caudal 

 1^ in head; pectoral If. Body moderately elongate; mouth small, the 

 maxillary not reaching to front of lower eye; teeth on blind side conical, 

 rather compressed and blunted, 11 to 13 on either jaw ; eyes close together, 

 the lower slightly in advance; gill rakers short, not numerous. Origin 

 of dorsal above middle of upper eye, its rays larger in the posterior half 

 of body; pectorals about equal in size; no spine before anal; caudal 

 rounded ; head, except snout, entirely scaled ; scales cycloid ; lateral line 

 with a small curve ; vertebr;e 13 -f 35=48. Color dull yellowish, blotched, 

 and with dark spots, especially over the chest and along the base of anal 

 fin; dark blotches and spots on anal, caudal, and ventral fins; dark base 

 to pectoral, which has also some cloudy markings. (Day.) Seas of the 

 north of Europe in rather deep water, south to Cornwall. Recorded by 

 Steindachner (as Pleiironectes gilli), from the sea between Iceland and 

 Greenland. This small flounder is rather common in the waters of north- 

 ern Europe. It reaches the length of a foot or more, and is said to be 

 excellent as food. Like its congener, Microsiomns patificus, this species 

 is very slimy in life. Pleuronectes f/illi, as described by Dr. Steindach- 

 ner, seems to differ from Microstomus kitt only in the larger head, which 

 is but 4f in the length to base of caudal. It is probably not specifically 

 distinct from the latter. Only a single specimen, 10 inches long, is 

 known. (Eu.) (The specific name "Jcilt," given by Walbaum on the 

 authority of Jago's description, should be adopted for this species. Ac- 

 cording to Day, the species is still called "Icitt" on the coast of Cornwall.) 



Rhombus lewis cornubiensis, JAGO, in Ray, "Syn. Pise., 162, tab. 1, fig. 1, 1713." 



The Hmear Dab, PENNANT, British Zoology, in, 230, pi. 41, 1776. 



Pleuronectes kitt, WALBADM, Artedi Piscium, m, 120, 1792, after RAY; the description in 



part confused with that of Lepidorhombus. 

 Pleuronectes Icevis, SHAW. Gen'l Zool., iv, 299, 1803. 



Pleuronectes quenseli, HOLBOLL, Bohusliins Fiske, iv, 59, 1821, Bohuslans, Sweden. 

 Pleuronectes quadridens, FABRICIUS, Kongl. Dansk.Vid. Selsk. Afhandl., I, 39, 1824, Iceland. 

 Microstomus latidens, GOTTSCHE, Archiv fur Naturgsch. 1835, 150, Zealand. 

 Pleuronectes gilli, STEINDACHNER, Ichth. Notizen, vn, 40, 1868, Polar Sea north of Iceland. 

 Pleuronectet microcephalus, DONOVAN, British Fishes, n, pi. 42, 1802; GUNTHER, Cat., iv, 



447; STEINUACHNER, Ichth. Beitr., vm,47; DAY, Fishes Great Britain, 11,28, pi. 102; 



COLLETT, Norges Fiske, 145, and of recent European writers generally. 

 Pleuronectes microstomus, FABER, Isis, 886, 1828. 



Plateasa microcephala, FLEMING, British Anim., 198, 1828, and of numerous writers. 

 Cynoglossa microcephala, BONAPARTE, Catalogo Metodico Pesci Eur., 48, 1845. 

 Microttomus kitt, JORDAN & Goss, Review of Flounders and Soles, 1886, 298. 



