THE TIDE-POOL FISHES OF CALIFORNIA. 
9 
Key to Genera and Species allied to Oligocottus. 
I. Preopereular spine simple, not forked or branched. 
a. Scales none; no enlarged anal rays in the male; anal papilla present in the male. 
b. Blennicoitus. Head very wide and blunt; mouth terminal, mainly transverse, 
c. Cirri of head few, none on interorbital space, two regular rows above the eyes, and a few on 
sides of head; preopereular spine scarcely appreciable . B. recalvus. 
cc. Cirri of head numerous, entirely covering the occiput and interorbital space, a thick bunch 
above preopereular spine and opercular flap ; preopereular spine nearly half diameter 
of eye, curved upward B. globiceps. 
bb. Oxycottus. Head pointed ; mouth extending laterally below eye. 
d. Cirri of head mossy or joined at base; four occipital bunches; dorsal fins separate. 
O. EMBRYUM. 
dd. Cirri of head single or double; three occipital bunches; dorsal fins slightly joined at 
base; anal papilla of male very large, situated between ventrals O. acuticeps. 
aa. Rmciculus. Dorsal half of body closely scaled; first two anal rays of male enlarged; no anal 
papilla; cirri of head small, single, or rarely doubled; one supraorbital, three occip- 
ital, one nasal, one maxillary, and two or three preopereular cirri; lower margin of 
preopercle bluntly toothed R. rimensis. 
II. Preopereular spine forked at tip. 
e. Scales none; one or more anal rays enlarged in the male; anal papilla inconspicuous. 
/. Dialarchus. First anal ray of male enlarged, joined to second, the two widely separated 
from rest of fin; cirri of head joined at base, two supraorbital hunches, three on 
occipital, a thick preopereular bunch, an opercular one, and a few on sides of head; 
a row of cirri along the dorsal fin close to its base D. snyderi. 
ff. Oligocottus. Three or four anterior anal rays of male enlarged, not separated from rest of 
fin and becoming progressively smaller posteriorly ; cirri of head irregular, usually one 
supraorbital and three or four occipital bunches in which all the cirri are joined at base ; 
no cirri along dorsal fin, except in the young or one or two scattering ones in the old; 
maxillary reaching a vertical below center of pupil O. maculosus. 
ee. Clinocottus. Scales present, sometimes obscure in adults; no enlarged anal rays; anal 
papilla present, large; cirri scattered irregularly over top of head in four irregular 
occipital rows, and in old individuals extending back on body along nearly entire 
length of dorsal fin, and down over anterior and dorsal half of body, none below lateral 
line, no scales on anterior half of body in the old; a fringe of cirri on preopercle, a 
thick bunch on opercle, and five or six cirri on maxillary C. analis. 
III. Eximia. Preopereular spine three-pointed. Scales none; eye and nasal spines large; first anal 
rays of male enlarged, second slightly elongated, not separated from fin ; anal papilla 
inconspicuous; cirri not joined at base, three supraorbital and three occipital pairs of 
bunches of two or three each; a maxillary bunch, a preopereular row, and an oper- 
cular bunch of cirri, and a few scattered ones on side of head ; a row along dorsal fin 
bending downward at end of spinous dorsal; scattered cirri between the dorsal row 
and lateral line, and below lateral line behind pectoral fins E. rubellio. 
LIST OF FISHES. 
Blennicottus recalvus Greeley, new species. Fig. 1. 
Centridermichthys globiceps Giinther, Cat., u, 171, 1860. 
Oligocottus ylobiceps Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis, 718, 1883. 
Blennicoitus globiceps Jordan & Starks, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci. 1895, 808; Jordan & Evermann, Fishes 
of North and Middle America, ii, 2017, 1898; not Oligocottus globiceps Girard. 
Head 3.66; eye 4.75 in head ; snout 3; D. ix, 15 or 16; A. n, 12; P.14. 
Body short, stout, broad anteriorly ; head very broad, short and blunt; snout obtuse ; interorbital 
space five-sixths of eye, grooved, the groove leading into a depressed space behind eyes; mouth 
distinctly terminal, maxillary reaching a vertical below anterior edge of orbit, lower jaw included; 
minute conical teeth on jaws, vomer, and palatines; nasal spines very small; no preopereular spine 
apparent in adults ; edge of preopercle rounded ; opercle ending in a rounded flap; branchiostegals 6, 
membranes broadly united, free from isthmus; gills 31, a slit behind last gill. 
