56 NEW- YORK FAUNA. 



GENUS HEMITRIPTERUS. Cuvier. 



Head and body with numerous fleshy slips. Velvet-like teeth on the jaws, vomer and pala 

 tines. A single dorsal, deeply divided, or separated into two fins. 



Obs. Of this genus, I am not aware that more than one species has been observed on our 

 coast, although the varieties dependent on color are numerous. It appears to hold an inter- 

 mediate station between Cottus and Scorpio ; and the species to be now noticed, has been 

 placed in eitker genus by various writers. 



THE AMERICAN SEA RAVEN. 



Hemitripterus americanus. 



PLATE VI. FIG. 16. i natural size. — (CABINET OF THE LYCEUM.) 



Acarfion Bull-head. Penn. Arct. Zool. Vol. 3, p. 118? 



Cotlus hinpidtis et triptcrygim. Bi.. ScHN. pi. 13 ; Diet. Sc. Nat. Vol. 11, p. 15. 



Scorpena flavii, Yellow Scorpma. Mitchill, Lit. and Phil. Vol.1, p. 382, pi. 2, fig. 8. 



Scorpena purpurea ? et rufa ? Id. Am. Monlh. Magazine, Vol. 2, p. 245. (Varieties.) 



H. americanus. Cuv. et Val. Hist, des Poiss. Vol. 4, p. 268, pi. 84. 



H. id. Griffith, Cuv. An. Kingdom, Vol. 10, p. 141, pi. 53, fig. 3, a. 



The Sea Raven, H. americanus, Storer, Fishes of Massachusetts, p. 23. 



Characteristics. Yellow or blood-rcd ; varied with brown. Length, one to two feet. 



Description. Body oblong, cylindrical, tapering rapidly to the tail. Head large, with 

 irregular cavities, knobs and elevations. Supra-orbital margin elevated, and furnished with 

 two strong spines ; four rows of irregular spines extending from the orbits to the nape. 

 Above the snout, an elevated crest on each side, with spinous projections, and a broader 

 intermediate eminence. 'From several of these prominences, arise various cutaneous digi- 

 tated cirri or slips ; ten or twelve of these are also pendant from the lower jaw. Summit of 

 the head very concave between the orbital crests. Surface of the body covered with a granu- 

 lated skin ; on which, more particularly above the lateral line, are disposed in rows small 

 conic tubercles. Preopercle with three spines, the lowest being very small. Opercle termi- 

 nating in a blunt point, and with elevated spinous ridges on its surface. Branchial membrane 

 six-rayed. Jaws equal and rounded. Card teeth in both jaws, on the vomer, palatine and 

 pharyngeal bones. Tongue smooth and large. Lateral line indicated by a series of tuber- 

 cles, and concurrent with the dorsal outline. 



The first dorsal fin, or rather the spinous portion, commences well on the nape, somewhat 

 anterior to the venlrals, and extends to a point above the origin of the anal fin ; the first ray 

 longest ; the second and third suddenly decreasing to the fourth and fifth, which are low and 

 subequal ; from these, the rays lengthen through the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth, wliich 

 are subequal, when the rays again shorten to the last : the tips of most of these rays are 

 furnished with fleshy slips or appendages. The second dorsal arises so immediately behind 



