822 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



and slender, very slightly depressed, about three plates 

 in front of caudal fin it widens slightly and is compressed; 

 belly somewhat prominent, breaking the otherwise straight 

 vertical outline from chin to caudal fin; dorsal outline 

 straight from occiput to caudal fin. 



Head as viewed from above almost regularly triangu- 

 lar, the prominent preopercular spines and the snout form- 

 ing the angles; its dorsal profile irregular, much broken 

 by spines. 



Mouth inferior, broadly U-shaped, maxillary reaching 

 just past the vertical from front of orbit; lips thick, cov- 

 ered with short, fine papilla; upper jaw protractile; teeth 

 small, in villiform bands, on the jaws, vomer and palatines ; 

 the distance from the anterior edge of premaxillary to end 

 of the rostral spines is less than half the length of snout; 

 two cirri as long as pupil under rostral spines, anterior 

 lower edge of preorbitals with cirri, a group of 3 cirri on 

 end of maxillary, and a group of 4 or 5 on posterior end 

 of mandible; one on the middle of each branchiostegal 

 ray, these forming a line from isthmus to opercle an area 

 on chin from the mouth to the hyal bones "woolly" with 

 short cirri; 2 or 3 cirri on lower edge of opercle and in- 

 teropercle. A pair of parallel rostral spines pointing for- 

 ward, their tips covered with skin; behind them is a deep 

 oval pit, on the anterior outer edge of which are a pair of 

 spines that point upward and outward and are slightly 

 hooked backwards ; at the posterior end of the pit are two 

 spines, smaller than those above, and slightly curved 

 backward; no median nor movable spine at tip of 

 snout; a group of four short spines around anterior 

 edge of eye, and one large triangular spine over posterior 

 edge; the interorbital space is deeply concave, with a 

 low sharp ridge on each side of the median line ; pre- 

 opercle very rough with irregular spines and tubercles ; 



