Colors.—Thickly marbled with blackish and grayish mottlings equal in size; ventrals and tail with a few scattered white spots; below, white. It is probable that the colors are variable, as in the allied Urolophus.
I was doubtful at first whether to consider this fish a Pteroplatea, as that genus is described by Richardson as having the mouth curved, and the dental plate extending to its corners, also the teeth lobed. These characters, however, may change with its growth, this being evidently a young specimen. Mr. Gill, of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., to whom I sent a figure of it, agrees with me in referring it to this genus.
Compared with the P. Maclura (Lesueur), of the Atlantic coast, described and figured by Dekay in the Nat. History of New York, this species is less wide in proportion to its length, the difference being as 10 to 16. There is also some difference in the markings. The P. Maclura is said to attain the enormous width of 18 feet.
I found but one specimen of this fish at San Diego, where it was caught in a seine. I have also seen one, when the steamer was lying at anchor, at San Pedro, swimming near the surface of the water, apparently supporting itself by flapping its wing-like expansions, while it progressed slowly by lateral motions of its tail.
Note.—By an oversight of the printer, the proper references to the figures on page 110 were left out. The reader will however understand from the descriptions that the right hand figure is the Myxodes ([Fig. 23]), and the others the Gillichthys ([Fig. 24]).
Transcriber’s Note.—This oversight has been addressed! Illustrations were relabelled correctly and placed next to the text describing them.
[8] Named in honor of Mr. Theodore Gill, of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D. C., the author of various learned treatises on fishes; Ichthys, from the Greek for fish.