PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 577 a name not tenable under the rules of nomenclature followed by us. In 1839 the genus Psettawds proposed by Swainson (Kat. Hist. Classn. Fishes, etc., ii, 302) in the following words : " Psetta Aristotle,* Guv. — Body rhomboidal ; dorsal fin commencing at the edge of the upper jaw, and extending, as well as the anal, almost to the caudal ; eyes approximating, with a short, crest-like cirrus. " P. MAXiMUS, Bloch, pi. 49." This name Psetta is adopted by Bonaparte (Catalogo Metodico di Pesci Europei, 1846, 49) for the entire group called Rhombus by Cuvier, while the name Bothus is transferred to a different genus which had been previously called Platoplirys by Swainson, and later Rliomhoidich- thys by Bleeker. The name Scophtkahnus is likewise diverted from its original meaning, and is used for the genus previously named Zeugop- terus by Gottsche. In 1862 (Proc. Acad. ISTat. Sci., Phila. 1862, 216) an American species {Pleuronectes maculatvs, Mitchill) which, from any point of view, is strictly congeneric with Pleuronectes rhombus L., was recognized by Professor Gill as the type of a distinct genus {Lophopsetta Gill). In 1882 (Syn. Fish. N". Am., 815) the present writers have referred this species to the genus Bothus, recognizing as the type of Bothus, Bothus rumolo Eaf., = Pleuronectes rhombus, L. Whether the extremely rudimentary or obsolete condition of the scales of Pleuronectes waajiwwsL., justifies its separation from Bothus as a dis- tinct genus we are not yet prepared to say. At present we may regard it as the representative of a distinct subgenus, for which the name Psetta must apparently be retained. The three species noticed in the present paper may therefore stand as 1. Bothus fBothusJ rhombus (L.). 2. Bothus (Bothus) maculatus (Mitch.). 3. Bothus (Psetta) maximus (L.). Indiana University, October 9, 1882. DESCRIPTIOIV OF A IVE^V .«>«PECIE8 OF ARTFDIVS (ARTEDIUS FFIVESTRAl^BS) FROITI PIJC^ET 80CJ:>]>. BY DAVID S. JOKDAN AIVD CHARLES H. GILBERT. Artedius feuestralis sp. iiov. Closely allied to Artedius notospilotus Girard. Head, 2f in length to base of caudal; depth, 4.'^. D. IX-17. A. 12. Lat. 1. 36. Length (27206), 5 iuches. * " I see no reason for substitnting Rhombus Cuv., for the more ancient and claaaic name of Psefta imposed by Aristotle npon this group."— SirafHsoH. I'roc. IT. S. ^^at. Mus. 82 37 April E», 1883. 578 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. General form of A. notospilotus, the body rather robust; the head large and broad. Lower jaw included. Maxillary extending to poste- rior part of eye, 2\ in head. Eyes rather large, 5 in head, about one- third broader than the concave interorbital space. Nasal spines strong, with a conspicuous cirrus behind them. Top of head less depressed and less concave than in A. notospilotus ; its lateral ridges smooth and covered by skin, without spine-like projections. No tubercular promi- nences behind eye. Preopercle ending in a short process, which has usually three spines at its tip, the two uppermost hooked upward. The three prominences below this spine are small, entire, covered with, smooth skin. (In A. notospilotus these projections are much larger, and more or less coarsely serrate.) A few small dermal flaps on top and sides of head. Head with small stellate, non-imbricate scales, arranged much as in A. notospilotus, but extending lower on the sides of the head, covering the suborbital and postorbital regions, as far down as the sub- orbital stay. Scales on body cup-shaped, arranged, as in A. notospilotus, in a broad band along each side of the back; each band about 9 scales in breadth. This band extends much further back than in A. notospi- lotus, meeting its fellow across the back of the tail behind the dorsal fin. A small but distinct pore-like slit behind the fourth gill (wholly wanting in A. notospilotus). Fins low, the dorsal much lower than in A. notospilotus; the longest dorsal spine about equal to snout ; 3J in head (in the female), probably higher i^ the males. Yentrals about reaching vent; pectorals past front of anal. Color, in spirits, essentially as in A. notospilotus, bat paler ; olivaceous, the head mottled and barred with blackish ; back with about 4 saddle- like black bars. Base of caudal blackish. Fins all, except the ventrals, which are pale (i>robably dusky in males), with cross-bars and series of spots. A black blotch bordered by orange between iirst and second dorsal spines, and another between 7th and 8th. This species is evidently the northern representative of Artedius no- tospilotus, but has apparently become so thoroughly differentiiited from the latter as to be worthy of a distinct spocitic name. In A. notospilotus, the head is more uneven, the body and head less completely scaled, the fins larger, the armature of the i)reopercle different, and especially there is no trace of slit behind the last gill. Several specimens of this species were obtained by the writers in Commencement Bay, near New Tacoma, Washington Territory, in June, 1880. These are numbered 27206 and 2714G, and some of them have been distributed by the National Museum as ^^ Artedius notospi- lotus.^^ The latter species was found by us in abundance only at Santa Barbara. Girard's original types apparently included both species, but his description applies best to the southern form. If we include in the §^eni\s Artedius a.\\ the species {lateralis, fenestra- lis, notospilotus, quadriscriatus, j)U(jctfensis, me(iacephalus) from the west PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 579 coast of the TJiiited States, which have been referred to it, it becomes practically impossible to separate it from the genus Icelus of Kroyer. Some of the different members of Ar/erfw/s are more like Icelus hmnatus than they are like each other. At present we are unable to draw any satisfactory dividing line among these species, and elsewhere (Syn. Fish. N. A., 689) we have referred all of them to Icelus. In the same memoir we have mentioned the specimens which here become the types of A. fenestralis as " Northern si^ecimens," rejoresenting " a marked variety" of Icelus notospilotus. nKSCRIPTION OF A IVEIV SPECIEiii OF VROI^OPHVI^ (UROr.OPHU8 ASTERIAS), FROiTI ITIAZATJL.AIV A1V1> PANAMA. B¥ DAVID S. JOKDAN AIVD CHARI.ES II. GILBERT. UROLOPHUS ASTERIAS Sp. UOV. Disk almost round, a little broader than long ; its length just about equal to length of tail. Anterior margins of disk nearly straight, the tip acute, slightly exserted, much less prominent than in U. aspidurus, longer in the male specimen than in the females. Distance from eye to tip of snout, about one-fourth length of disk and a little more than twice interorbital width. Interorbital space somewhat concave. Byes small, much smaller than the large spiracles, the diameter about half the interorbital width. Width of mouth 21 in its distance from tip of snout. Teeth conic and sharp in the males, blunter and somewhat pavement-like in the females. jSTostrils directly in front of angles of mouth ; nasal folds forming a broad continuous flap, the edges of which are slightly fringed. Ventrals jirojecting a little beyond outline of disk. Caudal spine very long, somewhat longer than snout, its insertion considerably in front of middle of tail. Caudal fin moderate, the upper lobe deepest, inserted opposite tip of caudal spine, the lower lobe beginning farther forward, the depth of the tail with caudal fin, about half the interorbital space. Skin above everywhere rather sparsely covered with small stellate prickles, these larger and more numerous toward the median line of the back and head ; wanting on the ventral fin. Males and females about equally rough. Median line of back with a series of rather strong, sharp recurved spines, 18 to 32 in number, extending Irom the shoulders to the front of the caudal spine, these usually becoming much larger and sharper backward, but the largest much smaller than the spines in U. aspidunis. Color, light brown, without distinct markings; tail, faintly edged with dusky ; lower side white.