590 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



panic, coronal, parietal and nuchal. Five preopercular 

 and two opercular spines; one to three spines on the 

 suprascapula. Suborbital stay moderate, usually not 

 reaching preopercle. Gill-rakers various, very long and 

 slender to very short. Scales moderate or small, mostly 

 ctenoid, 35 to 100 transverse series. Dorsal fin continuous, 

 emarginate, its formula XIII-12 to 16. Anal fin III, 5 to 

 9. Pectorals well developed, the base broad or narrow, 

 the lower rays undivided. Caudal slightly rounded, trun- 

 cate or slightly forked ; soft parts of vertical fins more or 

 less scaly. Pyloric ccEca 6 to 11. Vertebree i2-|-i5- 

 Species of varied, often brilliant colors, mostly red. Sexes 

 colored alike. The group inhabits the two shores of the 

 northern Pacific Ocean. Some of the species are ex- 

 tremely localized, and they are exceedingly abundant in 

 rocky places along the west coast of the United States. 

 They seem to disappear rather abruptly to the south of 

 southern California, and the number of species dwindles 

 northward; none are arctic, the bulk of the group in- 

 habiting temperate waters. The bathymetric range of 

 most of the species is rather limited ; some live in shal- 

 low water along shore, the majority frequent rocky reefs 

 at depths of 50 to 500 feet; a few species have been 

 taken at a depth of 1600 feet. All are ovoviviparous, 

 bringing forth great numbers of young, which are nearly 

 half an inch in length when born. The species differ 

 greatly in form and armature, but the genera based on 

 these differences intergrade too closely to be worthy of 

 retention. (^xc^Ja^rof, Sebastes : ^£''>"c, likeness.) 



