2040 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



blackish or grayish violet, paler below; breast and belly in front of vent 

 marbled with darker; anterior region to opposite posterior end of first 

 dorsal dark, the dark region limited by a still darker band which runs up 

 on the fin; posterior part of body paler, with narrow dark cross bands, 1 

 under the anterior and 1 under the posterior part of the second dorsal, 

 both passing down onto the anal; caudal peduncle darker, sometimes 

 with irregular patches more intensely dark ; caudal with a dark band at 

 base, and* another near distal end, the extreme tip white-edged; rays of 

 anal with black spots near their tips ; pectorals indefinitely cross-barred 

 by series of short black streaks on rays; ventrals of both sexes with 

 about 2 narrow bars of black. A variable species, widely diffused. Length 

 2| inches. North Pacific ; Kamchatka, Bering Sea, and coasts of Alaska, 

 south to Bristol Bay and Pugct Sound. (Gilbert.) Here described from 

 specimens taken by Dr. Gilbert (Albatross Coll.) about the Aleutian 

 Islands. On these specimens Dr. Gilbert has the following notes : 



Taken north and south of the Aleutian Islands, in the shallow water; also at 1 sta- 

 tion in Bristol Bay, in depths from 34 to 56 fathoms. Our specimens agree perfectly with 

 the description of Hypsagonus (Cheiragonus) gradiens, Herzenstein (Bull. Acad. Imp. des 

 Sci. de St. Petersb., xm, 116, May 29, 1890), described from the Gulf of Avatcha in 

 Kamchatka. Dr. G. A. Boulenger, of the British Museum, has kindly compared one 

 of our specimens with the type of Aspidophorus quadricornis, C. & V., and states that 

 they are undoubtedly identical. Body short, much compressed, the head also narrow and 

 compressed, especially above and in front. Nasal spines short and strong, a slender 

 barbel, of varying length, in front of them on middle line of snout. Ocular region 

 abruptly rising above the short, slender snout, the eyes vertical, overarched by the supra- 

 orbital rim, which bears posteriorly a strong vertical spine. Interorbital space with a 

 deep median groove and without ridges, the occipital region depressed below the bottom 

 of the groove. No deep pit on occiput, the space being gently concave transversely, 

 bounded laterally by moderate ridges, which bear posteriorly a spine preceded by a lone 

 tubercle. A strong spine at lower inferior border of orbit ; a strong spine at upper pre- 

 opercular angle and 3 smaller ones below it; a strong spine above the base of pectoral, 

 behind and above which on sides are 2 strong spines nearly in line with the upper lateral 

 series of plates ; surface of opercles with a few short spinous processes, but without 

 definite spine. Vomer and palatines toothless. Branchiostegal membranes broadly 

 joined, forming a free fold across the isthmus. Mouth narrow, horizontal, terminal, the 

 lower jaw included. Maxillary reaching vertical slightly behind front of orbit, 3| in 

 head. Eye large, 3 in head; snout 4; interorbital width over middle of orbit head 

 behind snout. Nape rising very abruptly from occiput to front of dorsal, the outline 

 thence descending to near front of second dorsal when it again ascends. The points of 

 origin of the 2 dorsals are therefore prominent, the profile concave behind them. Body 

 deepest under first dorsal spine, 3| in length. Greatest width of body near ventral out- 

 line immediately behind ventral fin, 5J in length. A series of small prickles along base 

 of spinous and anterior portion of soft dorsal, bearing 1 spinule to each ray. Plates 

 all concealed, the spines alone projecting; upper lateral series of plates very small, bear- 

 ing each a minute spinous point; this series is narrowly separated from base of spiuous 

 dorsal, and runs along base of soft dorsal, the 2 series uniting immediately behind the 

 latter, bearing each a pair of diverging spines ; lateral series with very strong spines, the 

 largest being the anterior ones of the lower lateral series. The upper lateral series is 

 incomplete anteriorly, ending under the eighth dorsal spine. It is apparently completed 

 by 2 very strong spines, which belong, however, to the series of the lateral line. Ven- 

 tral series of spines small,- running along immediate base of anal fin, the pairs uniting 

 behind the anal, the resulting plates bearing a pair of spines. As in the case of the dor- 



il series, this union is more or less irregular and incomplete, the corresponding plates 

 sometimes failing to unite, and then either maintaining their opposite position or alternat- 



