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U. S. P. R, R. EXP. AND SURVEYS—-ZOOLOGY—GENERAL REPORT. 
LEPADOG-ASTER MAEANDRICUS, Grd. 
Spec. Char. —Upper surface of head very much depressed ; eyes moderate, and directed upwards and forwards. Angle of 
the mouth extending to a vertical line drawn in advance of the eye. Upper jaw slightly protruding beyond the lower. Dorsal fin 
nearly equal to the caudal in length, but inserted more anteriorly. Ground color olivaceous brown, with darkish work of black 
line all over the head and body. Inferior surface of head and belly dulPyellow. 
Syn. —Lepadogaster reticulatus, Grd. in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. VII, 1854, 155. 
The specific name which, on a former occasion, we had bestowed upon this fish, having proved 
preocupied by a species of the Meditteranean sea, described by Risso, “ Histoire naturelle de 
I’Europe meridionale, vol. Ill, 1826, 277,” we have availed ourselves of the present opportunity 
to give it another appellation, although the latter, with several others of its congeners, may 
hereafter constitute a generic group distinct from that of Lepadogaster proper. 
The head is broad, semi-elliptical when viewed from above. Its upper surface, which is very 
much depressed, is declivous sideways as well as towards the snout. It constitutes nearly the 
third of the entire length, which, in the specimen described, is about three inches and a half. 
Its inferior surface is flattened. The mouth is broad in a front view of it, but not deeply cleft, 
for its angle extends to a vertical line drawn across the anterior rim of the orbit only. The 
upper jaw is somewhat protruding beyond the symphysis of the lower one. The eye is small, 
sub-elliptical in shape, situated towards the upper surface of the head, and directed upwards 
and forwards ; its horizontal diameter is contained about six times in the length of the sides of 
the head. The opercular apparatus is entirely buried in the muscles of that region, and which 
are quite developed. The branchial apertures are continuous under the throat, overlapped by 
the anterior margin of the membranous abdominal expansion. The branchiostegal rays are six 
on either side, though three only, the innermost, are fully developed, the others remaining 
quite rudimentary upon the middle region of the throat. The base of the anterior portion of 
the pectoral fin is very fleshy, bearing a membranous pouch-like expansion quite conspicuous 
posteriorly to the edge of the opercle. 
The body is anteriorly broader than deep ; it diminishes gradually in depth and width 
towards the origin of the tail, which is quite compressed and very much reduced, terminated by 
a slender caudal fin rounded off upon its external margin. The origin of the dorsal fin is 
situated opposite the vent and further apart from the extremity of the snout than the tip of the 
caudal. It is composed of articulated, but simple and undivided rays, thirteen or fourteen in 
number, the tips of the posterior ones not quite reaching the insertion of the caudal The anal 
begins a little further back than the dorsal, being as deep as the latter is high, and extending 
a little further posteriorly, the tips of the posterior rays nearly reaching the base of the caudal. 
The rays of which it is composed are all simple and articulated. Even the rays of the caudal 
are simple and undivided, as usual articulated. The ventrals are inserted upon the middle 
of the convexity of the pelvic bones. Their rays are sub-cartilaginous, imbedded in the 
membranous disc which they constitute, either nine or ten in number and simple, or else four 
or five branched ones, a fact which we could not make out clearly, having but one specimen at 
our command. At any rate we could see no rudiment of a spiny ray, such as is said to exist 
in Gobiesox. The anterior pectorals are broad, exteriorly rounded, composed of twenty-three 
articulated but undivided rays, the twenty uppermost being slender, and forming a fan-shaped 
fin situated upon the side of the chest, whilst the three lowermost are stouter, somewhat 
independent from the other, and situated under the head, where they complete the disc formed 
