398 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



water, and Dr. Charles C. Abbott tells me it has been taken on a 

 hook and line at Trenton. It is most too small to be of any value 

 as a food-fish. At Cape May and other points along our coast it 

 is known as hog choker, for the reason that it bends up and 

 resists the attempt of the hog to swallow it. This is further 

 augmented by the nature of the scales and small bones sticking 

 in the devourer's teeth and gullet. I have a small example taken 

 from the gullet of a fish duck {Merganser americanus), which 

 was killed near Atlantic City several years ago. My examples 

 from Cape May, Sea Isle City and Atlantic City. 



Achirus fasciatus Moore, Bull. U. S. F. Com., XII, 1892, p. 

 363. — E. Smith, Trans. Linn. Soc. N. Y., IX, 1897, p. 49. 



Achirus mollis Baird, 9th An. Rep. Smiths. Inst., 1854, p. 

 350.— Bean, Bull U. S. F. Com., VII, 1887, p. 134. 



Grammichthys lineatus Abbott, Geol. N. J., 1868, p. 820. 



Sub-Order JUGULARES. 



The Jugular Fishes. 



These, together with the next sub-order, include forms with 

 jugular ventrals among spiny-rayed fishes. 



Key to the families. 



a. Fin-spines present. 



b. Head cuboid ; mouth almost vertical ; lips fringed. uranoscopidte 



hh. Head compressed; mouth inclined or low; lips rarely fringed. 



c. Teeth not developed as coarse molars. blenniid^ 



cc. Teeth developed as coarse molars on vomer, palatines and sides 

 of mandible. anarhichadid^ 



aa. No fin-spines. 



d. Vertical fins confluent with caudal. 



e. Ventrals jugular, well behind eye, never filamentous. 



ZOARCID^ 



ee. Ventrals developed as slender filaments on throat close 



under eye. ophidiid^ 



dd. Caudal distinct from vertical fins. ammodytid^ 



Family URANOSCOPID.ffi. 



The Star Gazers. 



Body elongate, conic, subcompressed, widest and deepest at 

 occiput. Head large, broad. Eyes small, on anterior and upper 



