318 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



specimen which agrees in all respects with the preceding, but its radial formula is D. 60 ; 

 P. 13; A. 27; C. 17. 



The young of this species are frequently washed on shore, after heavy northerly gales, in 

 my neighborhood. It is a northern species, and its congeners are said to bury themselves in 

 the sand. 



THE BANDED SAND-LAUNCE. 



Ammodytes vittatus. 



PLATE LX. FIG. 197. 



Characteristics. Seven projecting spinous processes before the dorsal fin. A broad silvery 

 band on the sides. Length four to six inches. 



Description. Body oblong, subcompressed, slender. Scales minute, deeply imbedded in 

 the cellular tissue, ciliated on their edges. The lateral line running near the base of the 

 dorsal fin, until it is confounded with it near its termination ; its situation is indicated by a 

 series of tubes. Head small, pointed, flattened and grooved above, compressed and edged 

 beneath. Eyes large ; the margin of the upper orbits on a plane 'v^'ith the profile of the 

 head, and half their diameters apart. Nostrils double, distant, and placed in a horizontal 

 groove. Snout terminating in a bifid tip. Mouth protractile ; lower jaw longest. When 

 the mouth is extended, the lower ends of the labials pass below the line of the lower jaw. 

 Even aided by the lens, I could detect no teeth in the jaws, and only two slight osseous pro- 

 jections, scarcely amounting to teeth, on the vomer. Opcrcle oblong, thin and silvery. 



The dorsal fin arises vertical to the posterior margin of the interopercle ; its seven first rays 

 (if thev may be considered as such) composed of short spinous processes, almost concealed 

 in the common membrane. The dorsal fin proper is composed of slender, simple, nearly 

 subequal rays ; it commences over the tip of the pectorals, and very gradually decreases to 

 its termination a quarter of an inch from the tail. Pectorals long and pointed. The vent a 

 lonn- fissure 0'4 in length, behind the middle of the total length ; posterior to this commences 

 the anal, composed of very slender rays connected by a very delicate membrane. Caudal 

 forked. No air-bladder. 



Color. Greenish olive above, with a broad silvery band along the sides, which is margined 

 above with blackish. Pupils black ; irides silvery. Belly white. 



Length, 4 '5. 



Fin rays, D. 7.54 ; P. 15 ; A. 28 ; C. 19 f 



I saw this species several years ago near Sag-Harbor, Suffolk county. I referred it at that 

 time, with doubt, to the A. lancea. I have since had an opportunity of examining another 

 specimen from the northern coast, which, on comparison with my notes, I find to be identical 

 with my Sag-Harbor species. I can only place this species here provisionally, for it is very 

 doubtful whether it belongs to this genus. 



