1510 Bulletin 7 > United States National Museum. 



little depressed; pr em axillary just below the level of the pupil; the max- 

 illary scarcely reaching front of the eye, lower jaw included; lips thick- 

 ish, even; eye large, a little longer than snout; cheeks with 3 or 4 rows 

 of scales. Gill rakers 7 + 13, not so long as the large eye, which is 

 longer than snout. Teeth very few, short and blunt. Dorsal spines 

 stoutish, the last one highest, \ the height of the soft rays. Caudal 

 deeply forked, the upper lobe the longer; pectoral long, reaching beyond 

 front of anal; ventrals reaching nearly to anal; origin of ventral spine 

 about 4 scales behind the vertical from posterior part of pectoral base; 

 third anal spine nearly \ as long as first rays. Color soiled white, with 

 silvery luster; 3 or 4 obscure dusky bars, most distinct in the young; 

 fins nearly plain, dusky. Length 15 inches. Pacific coast, Vancouver 

 Island to San Diego; everywhere common, especially northward; the most 

 abundant species on the coast of British Columbia, entering the inlets in 

 thousands; the flesh rather poor and tasteless. (apyvpo$, silver; tf%*a, 

 body; but this species lacks the silvery sheen of Hyperprosopon.) 



EmUotoca argyrosoma, GIRARD, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1855, 136, San Francisco (young 

 individual in bad condition) ; and in U. S. Pac. K. R. Surv., x, Fishes, 180, 1858. 



Damalichthysvacca, GIRARD, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1855, 321, Puget Sound ; and in U. S. 

 Pac. R. R. Surv., x, Fishes, 182, 1858. 



Ditrema vacca, GUNTHER, Cat. Fishes, iv, 246, 1862. 



Damalichthys argyrosoma, JORDAN & GILBERT. Synopsis, 597 ; EIGENMANN &, ULREY, I. c., 

 385. 



NOTE. For the sake of completeness, we add the two remaining known 

 species and genera of Embiotocidce, from Japan. 



DITREMA, Temminck & Schlegel. 



Ditrema, TEMMINCK & SCHLEGEL, Fauna Japauica, Poiss., 77, pi. 40, fig. 2, 1847 (tem- 

 minckii) . 



This genus is very close to Emblotoca, differing in its smaller scales and 

 in its pharyngeal teeth, which are all conic and slender, the bones quite 

 small. Coloration of Phanerodon. (6Y, two; rpf/jti a, aperture, the gen- 

 erative organs having a distinct opening from the intestines.) 



DITREMA TEMMINCKII, Bleeker. 



Head 3f ; depth 2fc. D. X, 21 ; A. Ill, 25 ; scales 8-70-14 ; eye 3 in head ; 

 pectoral 1-^; ventral 2; last dorsal spine 3 ; second dorsal ray 2^; longest 

 anal ray 3|; caudal If. Body ovate compressed, the nape somewhat pro- 

 duced, upper profile of head about straight; ventral outline more strongly 

 curved than dorsal; mouth small, the maxillary reaching to nostrils; 

 lower jaw slightly included ; teeth conical, blunt, in a single series, 011 

 the front of lower jaw only; length of snout equals diameter of eye ; nos- 

 trils small, close together; gill rakers short and slender; about 4 rows 

 of scales on cheek ; top of head from posterior margin of eye, snout, ven- 

 trals, mandibles, and edge of preopercle naked; scales below lateral line 

 on middle of body the largest, their depth greater than their length; fins 

 naked; dorsal with a scaly sheath. Pectorals reaching about to vent, fin 

 pointed behind, the upper rays the longest; ventrals nearly their length 



