412 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



measured from tip of upper jaw; eye 7J^ ; sixth dorsal ray 3; 

 sixth anal ray 5 ; least depth of caudal peduncle 4^^ ; caudal 2^ ; 

 pectoral ij4; ventral 2i/^. Body comparatively short, robust. 

 Head large, depressed, broad. Eye a little elongate, superior. 

 Mouth large, mandible protruding. Jaws, vomer and palatines 

 with a single series of strong blunt teeth, and mandible with an 

 additional series at synphysis. Teeth of upper jaw small, those of 

 mandible small anteriorly and regularly increasing in size back- 

 ward. Vomerine teeth prominent. Dentary bones forming an 

 acute angle at symphysis. Lips fleshy. Tip of maxillary and 

 lower side of mandible with conspicuous cirri. A series of smaller 

 cirri along margin of preopercle. Subopercle ending in a long 

 sharp spine. Upper angle of opercle with 2 diverging spines more 

 or less concealed in skin. Interorbital space fleshy and depressed. 

 Gill-rakers as 11 fleshy tubercles on first arch. Body naked. 

 Lateral line obscure, pores inconspicuous. Pores on head and a 

 large one in axil of pectoral. Dorsal spines short, covered with 

 skin, and first inserted at end of head. Rayed dorsal covered with 

 skin, tips of radii free, and inserted a little nearer tip of mandible 

 than base of caudal. Anal similar, lower, and a little posterior in 

 insertion. Caudal short, rounded. Pectoral broadly expanded, 

 nearly to vent. Ventral thick and fleshy, space between but little 

 less than length of fin. Dusky-olive variegated with darker or 

 blackish. Length 10 inches. Beesley's Point. 



Many examples from the above locality, some of which are 

 newly-hatched young, Sea Isle City, Atlantic City and Cape May. 

 In all these places it is abundant. Not valued as food. This 

 voracious fish reaches a length of 15 inches, and with its powerful 

 jaws crunches up crabs and oysters in its life along the bottom. 



Batrachns tau Abbott, Geol. N. J., 1868, p. 817. 



Batrachus tau Verrill, Am. Nat., V, 1871, p. 398. — Bean, Bull. 

 U. S. F. Com., VII, 1887, p. 135.— Moore, Bull. U. S. F. Com., 

 XII, 1892, p. 363. 



Batrachoides variegatus Le Sueur, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci., 

 Phila., Ill, 1823, pp. 399, 401. 



Batrachus variegatus Baird, 9th An. Rep. Smiths. Inst., 1854, 

 p. 340. 



