362 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. NOTES ON J^OmE FIMHES rOI^IvECTED BV JAMES O. SU'AN IN WASHINCJTON TEBBITOKY, INCHJDINO A NE\¥ SPECIES OF JTIACRURIJS. By TARLETON H. BEAIV, M. I>., Curator of the Department of Fishes in the United States National Museum. The following notes on one of the recent collections received from Mr. Swan were nearly finished two months ago, but other duties in-terrupted their completion until now. Eleven species are mentioned, , one of which is described as new to science. Another {Dclolepis virga-■! tus) was previously unknown so far south, and a third {Brama rail) ) was only recently brought to notice by Mr. Swan as an inhabitant of f the coast of his territory and waters northward to Vancouver Island. 1. Macururus acrolepis, new species. The credit of discovering the first species of Macrurus known to ) occur on the Pacific coast of the United States is due to Mr. Swan, who i is well aware that even a mutilated fish is not to be thrown away until its identity is fully established. The type of the present description was rescued by Mr. Swan from the stomach of a seal ; its catalogue number is 3249G ; its length, 635 millimeters; a small portion of the tail is want-ing, and the belly is almost wholly digested. There is no difficulty, , however, in making out the characters which distinguish this species ^ from all others known to me. Description.— The shape of the body does not differ materially from i that of M. fabricii. The height at origin of ventral is contained 7 l times in extreme length ; at origin of anal the body height is contained i 9^ times in extreme length. There are about 7 or 8 rows of scales be-tween the lateral line and the base of the first dorsal. The length of the head is contained 4J times in extreme length ; its greatest height is little more than one-half its length, and is contained 8 times in total length. The greatest width of the head equals three-fourths of its greatest height. The width of the interorbital area equals one-half the length of the lower jaw, or three-fourths of the diameter of the orbit. The snout is moderately long and pointed, its length being i about one-fourth that of the head. The length of the upper jaw is a i little more than one-third of that of the head, and is contained 12^ \ times in extreme length. The length of the lower jaw equals the width i of the head and twice the interorbital distance. The distance from the tip of the snout to the orbit equals the length of the orbit. The first dorsal is constructed after the usual form, consisting of a minute first ray, followed by a long ray serrated along its anterior mar-gin, and by additional rays which diminish in size rapidly. The dis-tance of this dorsal from the snout equals 3 times the length of the upper jaw; the length of its base equals the length of the orbit. The second
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