010 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY - IV. 



Page 422. After Trichiurus leptunis* add: 



219 (6). BENTHODESMUS Goode & Bean. 

 (Goode & Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1881, 379 : type Lepidopus dongatus Clarke. ) 



Body naked, much compressed, band-like, tapering gradually back- 

 ward from the vent; caudal peduncle very slender, the caudal fin small, 

 but well developed; vent much nearer snout than tip of tail. Lateral 

 liiu- simple, nearly straight, in a deep, wide furrow. Head compressed ; 

 the snout gibbons near its tip ; top of head very flat, concave between 

 the eyes, without occipital crest; lower jaw with a stout cutaneous ap- 

 pendage. Three very long, simple, compressed teeth on each premaxil- 

 lary in front; outside of these a few minute teeth, and behind them a 

 row of large sharp teeth; lower jaw with a single row of rather large, 

 pointed teeth, those in middle of the jaw largest. Palatine teeth 

 minute. Nostrils horizontal. Dorsal fin nearly uniform, the spines and 

 soft rays similar; anal extremely low, preceded by a scale-like append- 

 age. Caudal forked. Ventrals each reduced to a minute, scale-like 

 spine, inserted below pectorals. Gill-rakers short, spiny, in one series 

 on first and second arch; obsolete on third and fourth. Deep water. 

 (/Sevtfw?, deep ; 8sa{j.6s, band.) 



666 (6). B. eloiigatus (Clarke) G. & B. 



Silvery, with dark traces on head and tail. Length of caudal pedun- 

 cle half greatest depth of body, its least depth one-third interorbital 

 width, which is 4 in head. Snout 2 in head; maxillary not reaching 

 front of eye, as long as postorbital part of head. Gill-rakers 13 on first 

 arch. Dorsal fin inserted above middle of opercle; pectoral as long 

 as maxillary. Head 7; depth 30. D. 154; A. 100; P. 12; V. I, 1. 

 (Goode & Bean.) Deep seas ; known originally from Hokitika, New Zea- 

 land; a specimen lately taken from the stomach of a halibut on the 

 Grand Banks of Newfoundland. 



(Ltpidopu* elvnyatiui F. E. Clarko, Trans. New Zealand lust, xi, ")4, 1W8, pi. sir; 

 Goodo & Beau, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1881, 3? ( J.) 



Page 424. After Scomber pneumatophorus rejid : 

 667 (ft)- S. colias Gmolin. "Span\h Mtu-keni" of Europe. 



Our Atlantic and Pacific representatives (grex Mitch.; dicgo Ayres) 

 of 8. pneumatophorus seem to bo identical, but both differ in some 

 respects from the European "Spanish Mackerel." S. colias Gmel. 

 has the head longer, 3 to 3$ in length (instead of 4); its spinous 



This species is known as " Sabrc-fah," and "Silrer Eel," on the coast of Texas. 



