Voi,. 5 ] 



Gilbert 



—Evestlies jordani. 



407 



EVESTHES JORDANI, n. gen. and sp. 



Prom the Miocene of Lompoc, Santa Barbara County, Cali- 

 fornia. 



This specimen is characterized as follows : head large with 

 strong bones, and occupying more than one-third of the total 

 length of the body exclusive of the caudal fin ; eyes on the right 

 side ; mouth large, with strong sharp conical teeth ; a great body- 

 cavity extending backward to more than the one-half of the 

 entire length of the fish and occupying two-thirds of the total 

 depth; strongly dorsalward position of the spinal column; 

 vertebrae few, 33, with poorly developed ventrolateral processes 

 and spines; general weakness of the body skeleton; uniform 

 arrangement of two interspinous bones to one ray ; weakness of 

 the bones forming the posterior boundary of the body-cavity ; 

 solid and unsymmetrical hypural bone ; and the small angle of 

 44 degrees made between the direction of the premaxillaries and 

 that of the spinal column. 



The pectoral fin lies with the middle of its base 40 mm. below the 

 middle of the spinal column and 47 mm. above and 10 mm. behind the 

 ventral fin. The posterior border of the operculum readies its base and 

 eleven rays are discernible. The fin is weak and the rays are only 22 mm. 

 long. The ventral fin is imperfect, but reveals three strong rays 10 mm. in 

 length. Four branchiostegals occur, but are incomplete. 



The dorsal fin begins apparently above the middle of the left orbit and 

 extends to the 29th vertebra, that is, to within 4 vertebrae of the hypural. 

 About 64 rays are present, and they are comparatively slender, weak and 

 strongly recurved. A few rays are wanting, but those present indicate a 

 uniformity of one ray to each interspinous bone, with two of the latter 

 uniting with each neural spine. 



The anal fin is incomplete anteriorly, but the part present indicates that 

 it was a half higher than the dorsal and much stouter. 



The rays were about 42 in all, 30 of which were attached through their 

 interspinous bones in twos to the haemal spines. The longest rays and 

 interspinous bones are attached to the first three caudal vertebrae as is the 

 ease with the dorsal fin, and the length of the interspinous bones is equal 

 to that of the corresponding haemal spines. The arrangement of the two 

 interspinous bones to each haemal and neural spine is very uniform through- 

 out, which is not the ease in some of the living halibuts and flounders. 

 For instance, in Psettichthys melanostictus the neural spines of the 14th, 

 18th, and 23rd vertebrae attach each three interspinous bones instead of 

 two as in the fossil; also in Platichthys stellatus the neural spines of 1st, 

 4th, 9th, 11th, 15th, 18th, 21st, and 24th vertebrae each receives only one 



