DISCUSSION OF SPECIES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 39 



Color, uniform indigo-blue, tliis color extending' to the inside of the mouth and the gill 

 membranes; fins and opercula black. 



The type of this species was obtained by Christian Johnson, of the schooner William 

 Thompson, of Gloucester, on the Grand Banks, at a depth of 200 fathoms. 



CONOCARA, Goode and Bean, n. g. 



Body elongate, compressed; in the type species strongly suggestive of the Barracuda 

 (Sphyrcena). Mouth moderate. Snout prolonged. .Jaws strong and powerful, the lower 

 slightly included. Teeth in the jaws acicular, rather Dumerous; also on the vomer, very 

 small; absent from palatines. Eye large. (Jdl membranes entirely separate. Dorsal mod- 

 erate in length; anal very elongate, nearly twice as long as the dorsal. Pectoral and ven- 

 tral small. Caudal strongly forked. Scales minute and deciduous. Brancbiostegals 6, 

 the membrane of the left series folded conspicuously over the origin of that of the right. 

 Opercular bones thin. Gill rakers rather short and stout, moderate in number. 



CONOCARA McDONALDI, Goode and Bean, n. s. (Figure 48.) 



Body elongate; its height 5| in its length without caudal; thickness about 12 times. 



The length of the head is contained about 3 % L times in the total length. It is somewhat 

 elongate, and corresponds in appearance with A. macropterus, Vaillant. The snout is two- 

 tilths the length of the head, compressed, and with an obtuse point; the lower jaw included 

 within the upper. Mouth large, the upper jaw about one third of the length of the head; 

 the maxillary not reaching to the front of the eye. Mandible reaches to below the middle 

 of the eye. Teeth on the premaxillary, vomer, and palate very sharp, minute, widely' sepa- 

 rated, in a single row in each jaw. Diameter of the eye contained 5 times in that of the 

 head, twice in that of the snout. Nostrils lateral; posterior very much larger, its distance 

 from the eye half the length of the eye. Gill openings wide ; opercular apparatus membran- 

 ous, its elements being very imperfectly ossified. Fifteen gill rakers on the first arch 

 below the angle. Scales very small, about 200 in the lateral line. Dorsal fin short, about 

 half as long as the anal fiu, and its posterior rays inserted nearly over the last rays of the 

 latter. The distance of its insertion from the tip of the snout about 5£ times its own length ; 

 the anal inserted at a distance from the snout equal to 2 ; V times its own length. Ventral 

 inserted nearly midway between the snout and the base of the caudal. Pectoral short, in 

 length double the diameter of the eye, and inserted below the median line of the body. 

 Caudal fin short, its middle rays not more than two-thirds the length of the snout, forked. 

 Color, uniform deep blue-black in life. 



Radial formula: D. 18; A. 3C; P. 10; P>. 6; C. approximately 22; V. 6. 



A specimen 8J inches in length was obtained by the Blake at station clxxii, in 24° 30' 

 N. lat., 84° 5' W. Ion., at a depth of 055 fathoms, and another, inches long, from station 

 clxv in lat. 24° 36' N., Ion. 84° 05' W. at a depth of 955 fathoms. Another, 8J inches long, 

 was taken by the Albatross at station 2392 (lat. 28° 47' 30", Ion. 87° 27'). 



The species is dedicated to Colonel Marshall McDonald, V. S. Commissioner of Fish- 

 eries, who has aided so extensively and efficiently the study of the deep sea fauna. 



CONOCARA MACROPTERA, (Vaillant), O >e and Bkan. (Fignre43.) 



Alepocephalus mucritjiUrun, Vaillant, Exp. Soi. Travailleur et Talisman, Poissons, isss, 150, pi. xi, fig. 



I'd, 2',. IV. 



Body very elongate; its height contained 8 times in the length of the body; its thick- 

 ness 11 times. 



Thehead, which constitutes one-fourth of the total length, is elongated ; the snout is two 

 fifths of the length of the head, compressed, and with an obtuse point Mouth moderate, 

 the upper jaw extending considerably beyond the lower, the maxillary scarcely reaching t<> 

 the anterior margin of the orbit. Teeth on the premaxillaries, mamillaries, vomer, and pal- 

 atines, conical, elongated, rather small, and in a single row in each jaw. Nostrils wide, close 



