Jordan and Evermann, Fishes of North America. 833 



6 to 9 inches. It is not unlikely that this form and Ammodytes dubius con- 

 stitute one circumpolar species, from which the closely allied forms tobia- 

 nn8j americanus, -dud personal us may be separately descended in the different 

 shores of the north temperate zone. North Pacific Coast of North Amer- 

 ica, Sitka to Aleutian Islands. 



Ammodiiles alascanus, COPE, Proc. Am. Thilos. Soc., 1873. 7, Sitka; JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 

 415, 1883. 



1213. AMMODYTES AMERICANUS, De Kay. 



(SAND LAUNCE; SAND EEL; LANT.) 



Head4f; depth about 10. D. 60; A. 28. Pectoral fins much longer 

 than snout, reaching front of dorsal. Lateral folds 125-130. Depth equal 

 to length of mandible, which is 2 in head. Olivaceous above, silvery 

 below ; sides with a steel-blue stripe. Newfoundland to Cape Hatteras, 

 abundant on sandy shores. Very close to A. toUanus of Europe, but appar- 

 ently more slender and with the head longer. 



Ammodyles americanus, DE KAY, New York Fauna: Fishes, 317, 1842, Stratford, Connecticut; 



JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 414, 1883. 

 Ammodytes vittatus, DE KAY, New York Fauna: Fishes, 318, pi. 60, fig. 197, 1842, New York; 



apparently a mutilated specimen. 

 Argyrotsenia vittata, JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 414, 1883. 



1214. AMMODYTES PERSONATUS, Girard. 



(SAND LAUNCE.) 



Head 4 ; depth 9 ; eye 2 in snout, 6 in head. D. 54 ; A. 24. Pectoral 

 fin half length of head, reaching past the front of the dorsal. Lateral 

 folds 130-150. Length 6 inches. Clear hyaline green; sides silvery. 

 Sandy shores of the north Pacific from Alaska to Monterey ; very abund- 

 ant northward, burying itself in the sand ; perhaps a variety of Ammodytes 

 tobianus ; an excellent panfish, the flesh delicious, (personatus, masked.) 

 Ammodytes personate, GIRARD, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1856, 137, Cape Flattery; JORDAN & 

 GILBERT, Synopsis, 415, 1883. 



Group BERYCOIDEI. 

 (THE BERYCOID FISHES.) 



Body naked or variously scaly, the scales sometimes highly specialized ; 

 dorsal fin with few or many spines ; ventral fins thoracic or subabdominal, 

 each with 1 spine, usually 7 soft rays, the number of soft rays varying 

 from 5 to 10 ; in one family (Monocentridce) the spine greatly enlarged 

 and the number of rays reduced ; head with conspicuous mucous cavities ; 

 air bladder in some species retaining its duct through life, (a character 

 verified only in Beryx) ; vertebrae in species examined, 24 to 30. Shoulder 

 girdle and pharyngeals normal. No suborbital stay. A varied group, 

 allied to the Percoidei and Scombroidei, but characterized as a whole by 

 the retention of the archaic cnaracters of the persistent air duct and the 

 F. N. A. 54 



