FISHES-EMBIOTOCOIDAE-PHANERODON FURCAl?US. 
185 
The scales are well developed ; the lateral line, concurrent with the dorsal outline, contains 
about sixty-three of them. Five longitudinal rows may he counted between the dorsal groove 
and the lateral line, whilst beneath the latter they number from twelve to fourteen, the 
uncertainty arising from a sort of irregularity in the longitudinal direction of each row. The 
largest scales occupy the middle of the flanks ; they are the smallest upon an area opposite the 
base of the anal fin. The dorsal groove extends from the last dorsal spine to tbe last fourth of 
the soft dorsal fin. The sheath above it is formed by one row of scales only. The scales 
themselves (figs. 3—5) are somewhat longer than deep, convex posteriorly, rounded superiorly and 
inferiorly, whilst their anterior margin is straight. The radiating furrows are not very 
numerous. 
The ground color is either yellowish brown or olivaceous above, silvery white or light yellow 
on the sides and under the head. The fins are uniform olivaceous or yellowish, with a darker 
margin to the dorsal and the caudal. A diffused marginal spot may likewise be observed upon 
the anterior portion of the anal. 
The specimen figured and described was caught in the Bay of San Francisco, California, by 
Lieutenant Trowbridge. 
Two other specimens, a male and a female, about ten inches in total length, were collected by 
Mr. E. Samuels, who caught them in Tomales Bay, California. There is no differences between 
the sexes except in the structure of the anterior articulated rays of the anal, as alluded to in 
Embiotoca and others. 
The female, on being opened, exhibited an ovarian sheath of the size of a large quill, in 
which twenty-three young ones were found lying loosely between the ovarian membranes, some 
with the head towards that of the mother, others in a reverse situation. Their average length 
is between half an inch and six tenths of an inch. Their general form is compressed, elongated, 
very slender, tapering very regularly backwards from the head, which is the bulkiest region. 
The latter is rounded anteriorly, with a large black eye speck. A conspicuous yolk bag is seen 
at the abdominal region. The ventral fins are just making their appearance under the shape of 
a tapering hernia. Of the pectorals we could detect no traces, which may have escaped our 
investigations. The dorsal fin has the same general shape as in the adult; it raises gradually 
from a cutaneous ridge to the spinous rays, which increase degree by degree from the anterior 
one to the posterior, which is as high as the first articulated ones. The anal a 1 so resembles 
that of the adult fish and loses itself, like the dorsal, in a cutaneous ridge along the peduncle 
of the tail, which is proportionally the same as in the adult. But the caudal, instead of being 
deeply furcated, is spear-shaped. The rays as well as the vertebrae, apophysis, the bones of 
the head, all, is in a cellular state, not far from homogeneous. 
Plate XXXIV, fig. 1, represents the female sex of Plianerodon furcatus , size of life, from the 
Bay of San Francisco. 
Fig. 2 is a section of the body across the line of greatest depth. 
Fig 3, a scale from the dorsal region. 
Fig. 4, a scale from the lateral line. 
Fig. 5, a scale from the abdominal region. 
Figs. 3—5 are somewhat magnified. 
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