FISHES-COTTIDAE-HEMILEPIDOTUS. 
67 
little in advance of the anal fin. These fins are proportionally more developed than in its con¬ 
gener of the seas of northern Europe, A. bubalis. The insertion of the pectorals is very long, 
extending almost to the inferior surface, along the branchial aperture, towards the isthmus. 
These fins are composed of sixteen or seventeen rays, very thick and short inferiorly, with the 
interradial membrane emarginated. The tips of the longest rays extend posteriorly to a vertical 
line drawn across the insertion of the second ray of the second dorsal. 
Br. VI: VI; D VIII, 12 ; C 4, 1, 4, 5, 1, 5 ; V I, 3 ; P 17. 
The course of the lateral line is occupied by a series of oblong and vertically elongated bony 
plates, from thirty to thirty-three in number, diminishing gradually in size posteriorly. Ante¬ 
riorly, the series is contiguous to the humerus, and for the distance occupied by the anterior 
dorsal it lies upon the dorsal region ; further behind it falls a little towards the flanks, hut re¬ 
mains throughout nearer the dorsal outline. The skin otherwise is perfectly smooth. 
The ground color of the upper regions is dark olive, or brown, dotted, blotched or mottled 
with jet black. The inferior regions are dull yellow or olive, with crowded meandric, dark 
streaks under the head, throat, lower part of the flanks, and tail. The ventrals, and generally the 
anal, are unicolor, like the inferior abdominal region. The anal, however, is sometimes black¬ 
ish upon its periphery. The ground color of the other fins is yellow or olive, upon which are 
spread black spats and blotches similar to those distributed over the body. 
Reference to the figure .—Plate XV, fig. 1, represents, somewhat reduced, Aspicottus bison , 
from the hay of San Francisco, California. 
List of specimens. 
Catalogue number. 
No. of specimens. 
Locality. 
| 
Whence obtained. 
Nature of specimens. 
Collected by— 
322 
1 
Fort Steilacoom, Puget’s Sound.. 
Gov. Stevens__ _ 
Alcoholic_ 
Dr. Suckley__ 
323 
1 
Fort Point, Cal_ 
Lieut. Trowbridge_ 
_do_ 
Lieut. Trowbridge_ 
324 
1 
San Francisco, Cal__ 
Lieut. Williamson_ 
Dr. Heermann_ 
325 
• 1 
Tomales bay, Cal_ 
E. Samuels_. _ 
E. Samuels_ 
HEMILEPIDOTUS, Cuv. 
Gen. Char. —Head rough and prickly, with membranous flaps on various parts; opercular apparatus spinous. Mouth mode¬ 
rately cleft; jaws equal. Teeth upon the premaxillaries, dentaries, front of vomer, and palatines. Gill openings separated 
beneath by an isthmus ; branchiostegals, six on either side. Dorsal fins contiguous. Caudal rounded or sub-truncated pos¬ 
teriorly. Insertion of ventrals opposite the base of pectorals. Longitudinal bands of scales alternating with smooth or 
naked areas ; scales themselves finely denticulated. 
Stn. — Hemilepidotus, Cuv. Rbgn. Anim. 2d ed. II, 1829.—Cuv. & Val. Hist. nat. Poiss. IV, 1829, 275.— Storer, Synops. 
1846, 59.—Gbj>. in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. I, Philad. VIII, 1856, 134. 
Calycikpidotus (in part), Ayres, Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sc. I, 1855, 76. 
The genus Hemilepidotus was established by Cuvier upon the very characters which we have 
just endeavored to diagnosticate, and as such it has been adopted by the subsequent writers. 
