44 DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



A single specimen was obtained by the French expedition at Station lxxxvii, from the 

 Banc d'Arguin, at a depth of 1,113 meters. The type appears to have been very badly 

 mutilated, but M. Vaillant has made a careful restoration in the figure which he presents. 



This species, like B. antillarum and B. australis, belongs to a division of the genus 

 distinguished by having the dorsal and anal, equal in length, and nearly opposite. For this 

 group a subgenus is proposed under the name of Talismania. 



BATHYTROCTES (TALISMANIA) ANTILLARUM, Goode and Bean, n. s. (Figure .49.) 



The maxillary extends below tlie anterior portion of the orbit, and essentially to the 

 vertical from the anterior margin of the pupil. The height of the body is contained 5 times 

 in the total length (without caudal); the head 3£. Bones of the head thin; head coin- 

 pressed, moderately deep, its depth at the occiput being three-fifths of its length. The 

 profile of the head in advance of the orbit is slightly concave, the upper margin of the orbit 

 approaching very close to the upper inutile; the supraorbital rim forming a portion of the 

 dorsal profile of the head. The width of the interorbital space is nearly half the diameter 

 of the eye. Eye large, conspicuous, its diameter equal to one third of the length of the 

 head; the pupil also large, its diameter two fifths that of the orbit; its horizontal diameter 

 considerably greater than the length of the snout, its vertical diameter equal to the length 

 of the snout, which is contained 4 times in the length of the head. Interorbital ring very 

 narrow : the maxillary is separated from the orbit by a very narrow strip of bone. Snout 

 sharply conical, its upper profile concave, jaws equal in front. Dentition feeble; all the 

 teeth equal, minute, uniserial. intermaxillary and maxillary toothed throughout. Vomer- 

 ine series transverse and straight, slightly interrupted in the middle; palatine series nearly 

 as long as" the vomerine; the two last-named series confluent. Branchiostegals 7 ; exceed- 

 ingly slender and long, Gills 4; the fourth well developed, with a slit behind it. Gill 

 laminae short, especially on the convex portion of the arches. Gill rakers long, lanceolate, 

 closely set; 17 on the outer branchial arch below the angle; 7 above. Vent equidistant 

 between the root of the caudal and the gill opening; origin of the dorsal Dearer to the latter. 

 Dorsal fin longer than high, its anterior rays increasing in length from the eighth to the 

 nineteenth ray. Origin of the anal somewhat in advance of the dorsal, which is inserted 

 over the third ray at the point where it emerges from its scaly sheath. Caudal tin deeply 

 emarginate. Pectoral fin inserted in the lower third of the height of the body; moderately 

 broad at its base; its upper rays nearly twice as long as the lower ones; its length half that 

 of the head, and its tip, when extended straight, in the vertical from the insertion of the 

 ventral, which passes through the twelfth scale of the lateral line. Ventrals close together, 

 not reaching to the vent, but to the origin of the sheath which incloses both the vent and 

 the base of the anal fin : its length equal to that of the lower rays of the pectoral and 

 to that of the snout. The root of the ventral midway between the tip of the snout and 

 the root of the anterior caudal rays. Scales large, deciduous, cycloid ; about 9 horizontal 

 rows above the ventrals. Lateral line curving in a concave sweep from near the upper 

 angle of the operculum to a point above the origin of the basal sheath of the anal, thence 

 in a straight line to the base of the caudal. Color of the specimen (denuded of scales and 

 long kept in alcohol), a rusty brown; head blackish. 



Kadial formula, B. 7; D. 20; A. 22; P. 13; V. 8. L. lat. 47. 



A single specimen (Xo 43739, TJ. S. N. M.) was obtained by the Albatross at station 

 2394, lat. 28° 3s' 30" N., Ion. 87° 02' W., at a depth of 420 fathoms. 



BATHYTROCTES (TALISMANIA) ^EQUATORIS, Goode and Beax, n. s. (Figure 50.) 



A species of Bathytroctes resembling B. antillarum in the size of the scales, bui with a 

 mouth larger than that in B. homopterus. 



The maxillary reaches to the vertical from the posterior margin of the orbit. The height 

 of the body is contained 5§ times in the total length; the length of the head 3£. Bones of 

 the head thin; head large, compressed, the depth at the occiput being three-fourths its 

 length, its width about one-third. Its upper surface longitudinal, concave, and deeply con- 



