Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 2073 



Avcrruncus are still closer, the chief difference being in the smooth plates 

 of the body and in the absence of cirri on the gill membranes, (sarritor, 

 one that scrapes.) 



a. Snout moderate, about length of head ; ventrala dark in male. . FRENATUS, 2419. 



aa. Snout very long, produced in a flat, triangular piece exserted for a distance equal 



to f orbit; ventrals pale. LBPTORHYNCHUS, 2420. 



2419. SARRITOR FRENATUS, * Gilbert. 



Head 4 to 4*. D. VI to VIII, 7 or 8 ; A. 6 or 7 ; P. 15 ; V. 1. 2 ; C. 11, with a 

 rudiment; lateral line 10. Body slightly depressed, tapering regularly 

 backward from occiput, the depth about % of the width at base of pec- 

 torals. The ridges are prominent, the dorsal and dorsolateral ridges pro- 

 vided with strong spines, the ventral and ventrolateral series with weak or 

 scarcely discernible spines, all decreasing in size backward, becoming 

 obsolete on caudal peduncle. Dorsal face deeply concave anteriorly, its 

 ridges coalescing, from 3 to 4 plates behind the dorsal fin; other faces 

 much less concave, the ventral ridges coalescing, 3 or 4 plates behind the 

 anal tin; plates in dorsal series 44 or 45; 5 or 6 pairs between occiput and 

 first dorsal, 9 or 10 under first dorsal, 2 or 3 between dorsals, 7 or 8 under 

 second dorsal, 17 or 18 behind dorsals; about 25 plates on breast, consist- 

 ing of a strong median series which bear a well-marked rounded ridge, a 

 strong lateral series at edge of breast also projecting, and a number of 

 small plates occupying the concave intermediate areas. In young speci- 

 mens the breast plates have central elevations, and bear each a back- 

 wardly directed spine; these disappearing in adults; a number of small 

 irregular plates in front of and on base of pectorals ; membranaceous in- 

 tervals behind and around vent smaller than in Podothecus acipenserinus, 

 occupied by 8 or 9 irregularly arranged plates, not in pairs and not cor- 

 responding to those of the ventral series between which they are inter- 

 calated; medial part of branchiostegal membrane and the gular region 

 covered with roundish plates, the whole forming a halberd-shaped patch ; 

 lateral line running on a series of small plates occupying the middle of 

 the lateral face; anteriorly these entirely disappear, the lateral line 

 ascending and running on the upper lateral series ; about 5 large plates, 

 sometimes bearing spines, lie behind upper axil of pectorals, between this 

 ascending portion of the lateral line and the inferior lateral series or 

 plates ; head depressed, tapering rapidly to the snout ; depth of head at 

 occiput its width at preopercular spine, the latter contained 6 times in 

 length of body. Eye large, the orbit about equaling length of snout be- 

 hind the serrated rostral ridge, 3-| to 3f in head ; snout somewhat vari- 



back. .Light grayish with a lew indefinite blotches ana oars 01 darker on sides and oa( 

 pectorals with several narrow dark cross bands near base and broader ones toward tip 



