TIlACIIICHTriYS MENTO. 59 



small, in villiforin bands on the jaws, larger forward, in a small group on the 

 vomer, and in narrow series on the palatines. Nostrils small, close together, 

 immediately in front of the eye, anterior smaller. Eyes small, less than one 

 fifth of the head length, shorter than the snout, equal to their distance 

 from the mouth. Membranes covering the vessels of the laterlil system be- 

 tween the prominent ridges at their sides very thin ; disks approximating 

 those 0? Hoplostethus j^acificus, Plate LXXI, fig. 4. An angle of some promi- 

 nence below the angular, another on the angle of the preopercle. Gills 

 foiu'; lamellEe short; rakei's nine plus fifteen, longest equal the length of the 

 eye, slender and sharp, rough on the edges; membranes hardly united, free 

 from the isthmus; hinder edges of gill covers very thin. Pseudobranchice 

 well developed. Scales mostly small, irregular, and rough with small spines, 

 in fifty-eight to sixty or more series from head to tail and about twenty- 

 eight from back to belly ; those of the lateral system three times as wide as 

 long, about twenty-eight in the series, deeply notched on the middle of the 

 hinder edge. Individual variation in regard to the scales is shown on Plate 

 XL, figs. 4 to 6 ; on some specimens a median line of large scales is pres- 

 ent between the ventrals and the anal, somewhat as in most species of 

 Tracliichthi/s, but on others the variations lead to those on which the 

 median series is quite undifferentiated. Fourteen pyloric caeca. Females 

 of five and one half inches in length contain immense numbers of mature 

 eggs. 



Dorsal origin midway from snout to base of caudal, length of base equal 

 to its distance from the front edge of the eye. Origin of the anal near a 

 vertical from the tenth ray of the dorsal, end of the base opposite that of the 

 dorsal. Bases of the pectorals little forward of the base of the dorsal. In- 

 sertion of the ventrals slightly forward of that of the pectorals. Caudal 

 peduncle narrow, twice as long as deep. 



In life this fish was probably rose-colored, with more or less of purple on 

 the scaly portions ; alcoholic specimens are brown tinged with purple on the 

 body and whitish or yellowish on the head and fins ; some individuals are 

 blackish on the opercular regions and at the sides of the abdomen ; linings 

 of the body cavity blackish. 



