1802 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



moderately developed, parietal ridges markedly curved; preocular, post- 

 ocular, tympanic, and parietal spines present, mostly thin and sharp; 

 parietal bones meeting ; interorbital space 4 in base of skull, concave, the 

 flat center bordered by 2 ridges (the roofs of the mucous canals); the 

 supraocular ridges forming an elevated border; inesethmoid processes 

 compressed, not elevated, ventral process of basisphenoid partly devel- 

 oped; base of skull strongly curved. Uniform rose-red above, bright sil- 

 very on sides and below, sparsely black punctate, a faint dusky bar 

 behind pectorals; spinous dorsal with dusky margins, the fins otherwise 

 unmarked; peritoneum jet-black. Coast of southern California; many 

 specimens, the largest described 7 inches long, from about the Coronado 

 Islands, in 24 fathoms. (Gilbert.) (dtrtkooS, double; rtpopa, M prow.) 



Sebastlchthys diploproa, GILBERT, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 1890, 79, Coronado Islands, Lat. 32 

 44' 20" N., Long. 117 23' W., in 124 fathoms. (Type, No. 48238. Coll. Albatross.) 



Sebastodes diploproa, CRAMER, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci., series 2, v, 1895, 596, pi. 61, fig. 13 ; GIL- 

 BERT, Kept. TJ. S. Fish Comm. 1893 (1896), 467.* 



2204. SEBASTODES AURORA (Gilbert). 



Head 2|; depth 2f. D. XIII, 13 or 14; A. Ill, 6; lateral line 29 (pores) ; 

 eye large, 3 in head, much longer than snout or interorbital space. 

 Mouth large, maxillary nearly reaching vertical from posterior margin of 

 orbit, 2 in head, its width equaling diameter of pupil. Mandible, later- 

 ally as well as in front, largely shutting within the wide preinaxillary 

 band of teeth; bands on vomer and palatines also wide. Preopercular 

 spines regularly radiating, the upper 4 more nearly equal than usual. 

 Preorbital wider, its least width f pupil, with 2 strong triangular spines, 

 directed downward and backward. Gill rakers slender, the longest little 

 more than eye. Dorsal spines strong, not high, the longest 2| in head, 

 the twelfth about its height; soft rays lower than spines; caudal 

 slightly emarginate; second anal spine very strong, much longer and 

 stronger than third, and about equaling in length the soft rays, its length 

 about 2| in head; veutrals reaching to or slightly beyond vent; pectorals 

 . to front of anal. Scales very rough ctenoid, those of lateral line enlarged, 

 covering breast, branchiostegal rays, mandible, maxillary, and part of 

 snout, everywhere rough. Fins enveloped in a more or less lax mem- 

 brane, invested with fine ctenoid scales. Bones of skull very thin ; preoc- 

 ular, supraocular, postocular, tympanic, parietal, nuchal, and usually 

 coronal spines present, sharp and slender ; ridges moderate ; parietal ridges 

 high, thin; parietal bones not meeting; interorbital space narrow, long, 



There are traces of dark bars on the sides; 1 on nape and under front of spinous dorsal; 

 2 on sides diverging downward from behind middle of spinous dorsal; 1 under middle of 

 sort dorsal. There are corresponding dusky marks on the fins, that on soft dorsal being 

 a distinct blackish blotch. The projecting lobes of the premaxillaries are evident in the 

 yo ,y2 est . 1 , ndl Y 1(lual8 - Fins and spines of head about as in adults. 



Ihe gill rakers in this species are 9 or 10 + 23 to 25. The maxillary is 2* to 2 in head. 

 The mterorbital space is very slightly mort, than \ eye. The ventral' fins extend nearly 

 to vent. .Pectorals If in head. There is considerable variation in the direction of the 

 upper preopercular spines, which are directed sometimes straight forward, sometimes 

 wlrrandbS !?' downward ' Lower Preorbital spine directed obliquely down- 



