648 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



branes united, narrowly joined to isthmus anteriorly, free 

 behind. 



Subgenus uiiCiNA Cramer 

 317 Aspidophoroides monopterygius (Bloch) 



Sea Poacher 



Cottus monopterygius Bloch, Ichth. II, 156, pi. 178, figs. 1, 2, 1780. 

 As(pidap7wrus monopterygius Guvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. IV, 



224, 1829; VI, 554, pi. 169, 1830; De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 62, pi. 



2, fig. 5, 1842. 

 Aspidophoroides monopterygius Storee, Rep. Ichth. Mass. 22, pi. 1, fig. 1, 



1839; Gunthee, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. II, 216, 1860; Storer, Hist. 



Fish. Mass. 32, pi. VIII, fig. 1, 1867; Goode & Bean, Bull. Essex Inst. 



XI, 12, 1879; Jordan and Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 724, 



1883; Goode & Bean, Oceanic Ichth. 283, pi. LXXII, fig. 260, 1896; 



Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. II, 2091, 1898, pi. 



OOOXII, figs. 756, 756a, 1900. 



Body very slender, tapering, elongate, its greatest depth 

 nearly one twelfth of total length without caudal, its greatest 

 width about one tenth of the same length. Head triangular, 

 much narrowed anteriorly, its length one sixth of total without 

 caudal; nasal spines very large, diverging, inserted near tip 

 of snout ; no other spines anywhere ; eyes very large, longer than 

 snout, one fourth as long as the head; supraocular ridges very 

 high; a ridge extending backward from eye along temporal 

 region; lower jaw slightly included. Caudal peduncle very long 

 and slender, forming about two fifths of the length. Breast 

 with flat plates. Dorsal ridges high anteriorly, the median line 

 of back from snout to dorsal fin concave. Dorsal origin mid- 

 way between hind margin of orbit and base of middle caudal 

 rays; base of dorsal one half as long as the head and equal to 

 length of second, and longest ray. Anal immediately under dorsal 

 and nearly equal to it in length of rays. Caudal convex behind, 

 the middle rays two thirds as long as the head. Ventral two 

 fifths as long as head. Pectoral reaching to eighth plate of the 

 dorsal ridge, nearly as long as the head. Plates on breast 

 radially striate, the two median ones larger than the rest; a 

 few small plates on hinder median part of gill membranes, and 

 on narrow underside of mandible; two large plates with raised 

 centers in front of and four to eight small spineless plates in one 



