2092 Bulletin ,//, United States National M^lscum. 



4 to 8 small spineless plates in 1 or 2 series on base of pectoral. Head long, 

 tapering, 5f to 6 in length of body ; orbits very large, nearly circular, the 

 longitudinal diameter longer than snout, 3| in head; interorbital space 

 wide, less than orbit, deeply concave ; supraocular ridges high, bulging ; 

 occipital ridges evident; temporal ridges low, terminating in an upwardly 

 directed blunt elevation ; suborbital ridge close under orbit, low, spine- 

 less, 2 or 3 plates below it on the nearly vertical cheek ; median rostral 

 plate small, immovable or slightly movable, spineless, overhanging pre- 

 maxillary ; mouth small, terminal, lower jaw a little included; maxillary 

 reaching front of orbit, almost entirely covered by preorbital. Dorsal and 

 anal fin small, the latter under the former; caudal 3 times as long as wide 

 at base ; pectorals 6 or less in body, their base about 5 in their length ; 

 ventrals of female f those of male, the latter f of pectorals. Lateral line 

 50. Color brownish, pale below, with indefinite cross bands of darker, 2 

 in front of, and 1 under dorsal, and 2 or 3 on caudal peduncle ; rays of 

 dorsal and upper rays of pectoral brownish, interrupted by lighter, giving 

 an indefinite cross-banded appearance; caudal dark, ventrals in both 

 sexes and anal pale. Total length 6 inches. Greenland to Cape Cod; 

 common in rather deep water. This description based on specimens from 

 Massachusetts Bay. (jiiorog, single, -rtrepvyiov, fin.) 



Cottus monopterygius, BLOCK, Ichthyologia, n, 156, pi. 178, figs. 1, 2, 1786, Tranquebar; an 



error. 

 Cottus indicus, BONNATEEEE, Tableau Encycl. Meth., 68, pi. 87, fig. 367, 1788, India; after 



BLOCH. 

 Aspidophoroides tranquebar, LACEPEDE, Hist. Nat. Poiss., in, 228, 1802 Tranquebar; after 



BLOCK. 

 Aspidophoroides grcenlandicus, VALENCIENNES, in CUVIER, Regne Anim., Ed. 11, Vol. 2, pi. 



21, fig. 3, 1829, Greenland. 

 Aspidophoroides monopterygius, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vi, 554, 



pi. 169, 1830; STOKER, Fishes of Mass., 22, pi. 1, fig. 1, 1867; DE KAY, New York 



Fauna: Fishes, 62, pi. 3, fig. 5, 1842 ; GUNTHER, Cat., n, 216, I860; JORDAN & GILBERT, 



Synopsis, 724, 1883. 

 Canthirhyncus monopterygius, SWAINSON, Nat. Hist, of Fishes, etc., n, 272, 1839. 



2482. ASPIDOPHOROIDES BARTONI, Gilbert. 



Very close to Aspidophoroides monopterygius. From this species it differs 

 in the much lower ridges on body, which are slightly rounded rather than 

 sharply carinate, and leave the intervening faces shallowly concave, 

 instead of deeply so. The plates of the lower lateral ridge do not in the 

 young bear backwardly directed spinous points as they do in A. monop- 

 terygius. The keel in front of the ventral fin, prominent in A. monopterygius, 

 is here nearly or quite obsolete. The same is true of the keel below the 

 eye, and the occipital ridge. The plates in front of the pectorals also 

 protrude less, and in general the angles and prominences are less marked. 

 The space between the dorsal ridges is less, its greatest width being | 

 length of head behind middle of eye in adults, and behind posterior 

 margin of eye in young. In A. monoptcrygius the same width equals 

 head behind front of eye in adults, behind middle of eye in young. These 

 scarcely admit of quantitative statements, but are sufficiently evident 

 on comparing specimens from the Atlantic and the Pacific. Vertebrae 



