752 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



339. APELTES, De Kay. 



Apeltei, DE KAY, New York Fauna: Fishes, 67, 1842, nomen nudum, (quadroons). 

 Apeltes, JORDAN, Man. Vert., Ed. i, 249, 1876, (quadracus; genus characterized). 



Body moderately elongate, somewhat compressed, the back elevated at 

 the beginning of the soft dorsal fin, thence declining in nearly a straight 

 line to tip of snout. Tail very slender, not keeled. No bony dermal 

 plates ; the skin naked. Innominate bones not joined on the median line 

 but separated, forming a bony ridge on each side of the abdomen, below 

 which the strong ventral spines are depressible. Chest mostly bony ; 

 bare area in front of pectorals small, but distinct. Gill rakers rather 

 short. Gill membranes attached to the isthmus, without free edge. 

 Free dorsal spines 3, strong, the first the longest, directed to one side ; 

 the next two directed toward the other side at different angles ; attached 

 spine of dorsal arid anal well developed ; a bony ridge on each side of 

 the spinous dorsal. American, (a, privative ; Tre/lr??. shield.) 



1102. APELTES QUADRACUS (Mitchill). 



Head 4 ; depth 4. D. III-I, 11 ; A. I, 8. Trunk oblong ; head pointed; 

 caudal peduncle very long and slender, not keeled, about 5 in length. 

 Mouth small, horizontal ; maxillary not reaching to eye ; teeth slender, 

 in a single series. No bony dermal plates along sides. Scapula forming 

 a small granulated postopercular plate. Innominate bones wide apart ; 

 the area between them flat, so that a section of the fish is triangular. 

 Gill membrane broadly united to the isthmus. Free dorsal spines diver- 

 gent; the spines slender, pointed, slightly serrate; distance between 

 first and third spine much less than that between third and fourth ; the 

 first extending beyond base of third ; caudal long, narrow ; anal similar 

 to soft dorsal and coterminous with it ; its spine under third ray of dor- 

 sal ; ventral spines strong, subterete ; serrate on both edges and covered 

 by skin to near tip ; when the ventral spines are set they point almost 

 sidewise, when depressed they lie along inside of innominate bones. 

 Brownish olive above, mottled with darker ; silvery below ; male almost 

 black ; ventrals with the membrane red in spring. Length 1| to 2 

 inches. Maine to New Jersey, in salt water; very abundant northward. 

 (quatuor, four ; acus, spine.) 



Gasterosteus quadracus, MiTCHiLL, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc., I, 1815, 430, New York; GUNTHER, 



Cat., i, 7, 1859. 



Gasterostem apeltes, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv, 505, 1829, no locality. 

 Gasterosteus millipunciatus, AYRES, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist., 1842, 294, Old Man's Harbor, Long 



Island. 

 Apeltes quadracus, JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 396, 1883; EIGENMANN, I. c.,242. 



Family XCIX. AULORHYNCHID^. 



Body elongate, nearly cylindrical, with a very slender, depressed caudal 

 peduncle. Skin naked, with a few series of partly concealed plates. 

 Mouth terminal, small, at the end of a tube which is about as long as the 



