CHLOPSIS GlLBERTn. 317 



snout to vent. Snout slender, blunt, covered with jiapilloo, soft at the end, 

 ascending from the mouth forward, length from the tip to the middle of 

 the eye equal to one third of that of the head. Anterior nostril above tlie 

 premaxillary group of teeth, with a short forward directed tube ; posterior 

 covered by a fold of the skin which extends back to the eye giving 

 the nostril the appearance of a long slit below the eye and forward opening 

 in the lip. The nasal sac lies directly in front of the eye. A pair of pores 

 of moderate size on the uj^per surface about half way between the anterior 

 nostrils and the posterior. Eye large, about two fifths as long as the snout, 

 nearly one ninth of the length of the head. Mouth wide, cleft extending as 

 far backward as the hind edge of the orbit. A narrow notch below the 

 forward nostrils between the anterior and the maxillary teeth. Teeth 

 small, sharp, hooked, in villiform bands on jaws and vomer ; anterior 

 group forward of the lower jaws, convex forward, concave on the hinder 

 margin, narrowly separated from the maxillar^^ bands or from the vomerine 

 teeth behind them ; the band on the shaft of the vomer narrow forward, 

 widening backward, ending at a short distance forward from the eye below 

 the posterior nostrils. Gill opening small, crescentic, convex forward, 

 vertical diameter nearly that of the eye, below the middle of the side ; 

 interspace about one third as Avide as tlie opening. A prominent corner on 

 the angular. Lateral line distinct, above the middle of the flank, approach- 

 ing the upper surface slightly forward of the dorsal. 



Dorsal origin backward of the gill openings one half of the ocular 

 diameter ; fin narrow. Anal narrower than the dorsal, first ray below the 

 ninety-second ray of the latter, origin at the beginning of tlie posterior two 

 thirds of the total length of the specimen. Caudal narrow, acuminate, 

 continuous with dorsal and anal. Pectorals and ventrals absent. 



Brownish flesh color, probably reddish in life, with brown puncticulations 

 more or less coarse, little darker on back and head, little lighter on belly, 

 fins lighter. 



Distinguished from C. equatoriaJis Gilb. by the origin of the dorsal almost 

 directly above the bases of the pectorals, by the tail twice the length of the 

 body cavity, and by the absence of a blackish streak along the median line 

 of the belly. 



Specific name from that of Prof. C. H. Gilbert, who first discovered the 

 genus in American waters. 



