FAMILY TRIGLID/E CRYPTACANTHODES. 63 



I have never liad an opporlunity of seeing tliis rare species, and have copied from Slorer 

 his figure of one found on the coast of Massachusetts. It occurs in the Arctic seas, is unim- 

 portant as an article of food, and is very rare. 



GENUS CRYPTACANTHODES. Slorer. 



Body anguilJiform, compressed, gradualb/ tapering to the tail, luithoui scales. Head, broad, 

 with, no projecting spines hut the angles of the gill-rovers. The scapular and humeral 

 spines, and the lower edge of the prcopercle, prominent to the touch. Branchial raijs 

 seven. A single dorsal, with strong spinous rai/s, and united ivith the caudal and anal. 

 No ventral fins. Teeth in the jaws, vomer and palatines. 



Obs. This genus was estabhshed by Dr. Storer, for the reception of a remarkable fish 

 which appears occasionally on the seacoast of Massachusetts. 



THE SPOTTED WRY-MOUTH. 



CliYl'TACANTHODES MAtULATUS. 

 PL.A.TE .win. FIG. 5(1. And >vith the head enlarged. — (C.-in. BOST. NAT. inST. SOCIETY.) 

 Cryptacanthodes jnaculatits, Spotttil Wry-jiwuth. StORER, Mass. Rep. p. 2^. 



Characteristics. Reddish brown, with darker reddish blotches, forming two longitudinal series, 

 on the sides. Length twelve to twenty inches. 



Description. Body elongated, compressed, scaleless. Lateral line straight, with the ap- 

 pearance of intcrrupied dots. Head large, flattened above, with several bony processes and 

 ridges ; two prominent ones running from the orbits backwards to the occiput. The posterior 

 angles of the opercle and preopercle, the whole lower edge of the latter, and the scapular 

 bones, all seem like sharp points and edges concealed under the skin. Opercle small, I'O 

 long, rounded on its lower margin, acute behind ; its upper margin forming a bony ridge, and 

 united to the preopercle by a membrane at its upper angle. Preopercle large ; its upper and 

 posterior angles obvious to the touch ; its lower edge sharp, and feeling as if divided into two 

 ridges. Branchial membrane capacious, dilatable, and forming a large fold above the base 

 of the pectorals, where it unites with the common skin. Eyes moderate, nearly vertical, 0'3 

 in diameter, and 0'63 apart ; the intervening space between the orbits depressed, with nume- 

 rous pits or cavities. Nostrils tubular, and placed on a line with the upper margin of the 

 orbits, at the edge of the intermaxillaries. Mouth wide, terminal, opening obliq\ioly upwards. 

 Lips large and fleshy. Minute straight conic teeth disposed in bands on the jaws, with an 

 intermediate free space in the middle ; a patch of similar teeth on the vomer ; several series 

 of longer and more acute and recurved teeth on the palatines. 



The dorsal fin arises 3"4 distant from the end of the snout, and nearly above the middle of 

 the pectorals ; it is united to, and continuous with the caudal : all its rays are stoutly spinous 



