Jordan and Ever mann.- Fishes of North America. 2047 



widest between pectorals ; mouth short oblique, the maxillary not reaching 

 to In-low eye; profile straight, cranium flat above, the eyes prominent; no 

 spines 011 the orbit; preopercle with 3 spines on its vertical margin; 2 

 on the lower border of the large suborbital ; trunk 8-angled ; tail 6-angled. 

 Plates more utimerous than in Ayonns, 40 on each upper range from nape 

 to point of their union ; numbers in the other rows in proportion ; upper 

 series with their ridges rather sharp, lower with obtuse ridges; 2 series 

 of abdomen separated by dilatable skin: no barbels on gill membranes. 

 IVrtorals longer and dorsals farther back than in 0. dodeccudron or Podolhe- 

 cu8 acipi-HXf-rinns. Lower rays of pectoral larger than the others; anal 

 longer than second dorsal, beginning under middle of first dorsal; length 

 K) inches. (Tilesius, as quoted by Cuvier & Valenciennes.) The figure of 

 Tilesius shows a tubular compressed snout, with the short mouth at the 

 end and a very wide back, inesially concave. Specimens from Petropaul- 

 ski have the eye 2\ in snout; mandible 2 in head; maxillary 4; snout 3; 

 pectoral nearly as long as head; breast with large plates in 3 dividing 

 rows, with smaller ones between. Tail very slender, not spinous; body 

 chubby, the greatest width 2^, greatest depth 2 in head; head nearly 5 

 in body. Scales 44. Teeth minute. The species is intermediate in form 

 between Occa dodecaedron and Pallaxina barbata. Several specimens from 

 Shana Bay, Iturup Island, show the following characters: Dorsal face 

 wider than in either and deeply concave; snout elongate, depressed, its 

 widtli taken at middle of its length greater than its depth at same point, 

 and -J its length, measured from tip of lower jaw; lower jaw much longer 

 than upper, the symphysis entering upper profile of snout, vertically fur- 

 rowed at tip: maxillary not reaching orbit, 4 in head; preorbital elongate, 

 with a lengthwise ridge which divides anteriorly, the branches not ter- 

 minating in spines, the edge of preorbital entire; anterior nostril in a 

 short tube. Teeth all minute, present on jaws and vomer, often absent 

 on palatines, sometimes present in a small patch on extreme anterior end. 

 Suborbital stay without spine, forming a gibbous striated protuberance 

 on middle of cheek, between which and the horizontal edge of preopercle 

 is a series of three or four small plates; 2 strong diverging spines at 

 angle of preopercle; a shorter spine below them; orbital margins ele- 

 vated superiorly and posteriorly; interorbital space very narrow, grooved 

 and longitudinally striated, its width equalling diameter of orbit, which 

 is 6 in head; no spines on top of head, the ridges low and rounded. 

 Head 4$ to 4 in length; width of body 8J- to 8; length of caudal ped- 

 uncle 3^ to 4. Body anteriorly hexagonal, the upper lateral ridge becom- 

 ing obselete immediately in front of spinous dorsal; lower lateral ridge 

 also becoming rounded and obsolescent anteriorly ; dorsal face widening 

 rapidly from occiput to front of spinous dorsal where its width equals 

 snout; it gradually narrows posteriorly, the dorsal ridges becoming con- 

 fluent at a point much nearer base of caudal than end of second dorsal; 

 ventral ridges spineless, the lateral ridges with short spinous points, often 

 distinguishable with difficulty; dorsal series anteriorly with stronger 

 spines which rapidly diminish posteriorly: brauchiostegal and gular 

 membranes without plates ; plates on body without the minute prickles 



