88 ANNUAL REPORT OF 



terior ray at a considerable distance from its base, and is about 

 one-third as long as the anterior fin-margin (Fig. 13). Pec- 



Fig. 13. 

 Semionotus micropterus (Newb.). Fulcra and anterior rays of dorsal fin. 



torals with upwards of 20 fulcra. Ridge-scales moderate, spini- 

 form, the one immediately in advance of the dorsal fin slightly 

 produced into a point behind. Scales frequently serrated, those 

 below the lateral line on the flanks tending to become bi- or tri- 

 dentate on the postero-inferior angle (text-fig. 13). 



According to Newberry, the most striking diagnostic charac- 

 ters of this species are "its pointed rostrate, depressed muzzle; 

 conical narrow head, horizontal below ; the wedge-shaped outline 

 of the body, which is widest near the head ; the small and delicate 

 fins, and the narrow and oblique tail." The maximum size 

 attained by this species, as stated by the same authority, is "ten 

 and one-half inches long by three and one-half inches wide, the 

 smallest * * * only about three and one-half inches long." 

 The fin and scale characters have been worked out in detail by Dr. 

 G. F. Eaton, from whose paper the illustrations given in Plate II. 

 are borrowed. 



This species is known only from Connecticut, and is stated by 

 Newberry to be especially common in the vicinity of Durham. It 

 is possible that the detached head figured by Schellwien, in Plate 

 III., fig. 4, of his memoir belongs to the species in question, this 

 being one of the few T in which the cheek plates are granulated. 



