FISHES —COTTIDAE-ASPICOTTUS. 
65 
interradial membrane emarginated ; whilst the upper ones are more slender and bifurcated upon 
their extremity, which is even with their membrane. 
Br. VI: VI; D XI, 19 ; A 13 ; C 6, 1, 5, 4, 1, 5 ; V I, 5 ; P 16. 
The skin is perfectly smooth ; the lateral line runs uninterrupted from the upper part of the 
thoracic arch to the base of the caudal, following the middle of the flanks from the origin of the 
second dorsal backwards. 
The ground color of the head, body, and fins is either of a light or a dark chocolate brown, over 
which are spread, without any apparent order, black patches and streaks, giving the whole a 
marmorated appearance. 
Reference to the figure. —Plate XVI, figure 1, represents the profile view of Scorpcenichthi/s 
marmoratus , somewhat reduced in size, and caught in the bay of San Francisco, California. 
List of specimens. 
Catalogue number. 
Corresponding No. 
of 
No. of specimens. 
1 
Sex and age. 
Locality. 
When collected. 
Whence obtained. 
Original number. 
Nature of specimens 
Collected by—- 
314 
3 
Adt. 
San Francisco, California.. 
1853 
Lieut. Williamson_ 
Alcoholic . 
Dr. Heermann_ 
315 
2 
_do_ 
Dr. Newberry_ 
316 
1 
Adt. 
Presidio, California 
_ do _ 
Lieut. Trowbridge_ 
_do_ 
Lieut. Trowbridge_ 
317 
1 
1855 
_do__ 
318 
2 
1853 
_do_ 
.do_ 
319 
6 
Adt. 
1854 
320 
1 
1854 
_do_ 
_do... 
321 
3 
Yg. 
Tomales bay, California... 
1855 
E. Samuels_ 
ASPICOTTUS, Girard. 
Gen. Char.— Bones of the head exposed and corrugated. Opercular apparatus armed with strong spines. Mouth mode¬ 
rately cleft; jaws equal. Teeth on the premaxillaries, dentaries, and front of the vomer; none on the palatines. Gill 
openings separated beneath by an isthmus; branchiostegal rays six in number. Dorsal fins distinctly separated. Caudal 
posteriorly rounded. Insertion of ventrals opposite the base of pectorals. Lateral line formed by a series of bony scutellae 
extending from head to tail. Skin otherwise smooth. 
Syn. — Aspicotlus, rd. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. VII, 1854,130 ; &, VIII, 1856,133. 
Clypeocottus, Ayres, Proc. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sc. 1,1854,12. 
To this genus is to be referred Cottus bubalis, of Euphrasen, an inhabitant of the Baltic and 
Norwegian seas. The latter species is so closely related to A. bison , described below, that it is 
only upon a careful comparison that the two can be distinguished. 
The genus is well characterized by the great development of the suborbital bones and the 
presence of a lateral series of bony shields altogether different from the scale-like plates of He- 
mitripterus and Artedius. 
9 a 
