DISCISSION Or SPECIES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 



159 



No traces of a lateral line. Vent premedian. 

 in slender point. 



Rays of vertical tins slender and flexible. 



Tail free, termiuatin 



EUBYPHAKYNX l'KI.ECANOIDES, Vaii.i.ani. (Figure 176.) 



i: a r a i> luiiy n. i pelecanoides, Vaillant, Comptea Rendns Acad. Sc, Paris, xcv, 1226, Dec. 11. L882; Exp. Sci. 



Triiviiillenr e1 Talisman. Ills. pi. xvii. — (in. L and Rydku, loo cit. 

 Siccopharynx pelecanoides, i;i nther, Challenger Report, xxn, L887, 262. 



Both jaws possess merely t'eelile dental granulations, but the lower jaw is armed in front 

 with a pair of slender curved teeth (2 millimeters long). The. length of the jaws is about 

 one-half of that of the body. The origin of the dorsal tin is nearer to the end of the snout 

 than to the vent; neither the dorsal nor the anal tin reach the end of the tail (which termi- 

 nates in a small, skinny lobe). (Hll-opening a very small round opening. No bluish-white 

 line along the back. (GHmther.) 



" This animal," writes Grill, "is about 0.47 meter long and 0.02 meter high at the most 

 elevated part and is of au intense deep-black color. The body, the form of which is masked 

 in front by the abnormal mouth, which will be mentioned further on, resembles that of 

 jUacrurm; it becomes regularly attenuated from about the anterior fourth, the point at 

 which the external branchial orifice is seen, and terminates in a point at the caudal extrem- 

 ity ; the anus is situated at the junction of the anterior third with the posterior two-thirds 

 of the body. 



"What gives this fish a very peculiar physiognomy is the arrangement of the jaws and 

 the structure of the mouth, which are even au exaggeration of what Mr. Ayres has described 

 in Malacosteus niger. Although the head is short (scarcely 0.03 meter), the jaws and the 

 suspensoriuin are excessively elongated; the latter did not measure less than 0.095 meter; 

 and from this it results that the articular angle is carried very far back, to a distance from 

 the end of the muzzle equal to about 3i times the length of the cephalic portion." 



GASTROSTOMTJS, Gill and Ryder. 

 Gastro8tomii8, Gill aud Ryder, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mas., 1883, vi, 271-273. 



Eurypharyngids with the cranium abbreviated and little or no longer than broad, 

 minute acute conic teeth depressed inward in a very narrow band on the jaws (no en- 

 larged teeth at the extremity of the mandible), and the tail with au eradiate membrane 

 under its terminal portion. Gill-opening close to angle of mouth. 



GASTROSTOMIES BAIRDII, Gill and Ryder. (Figures 181,182.) 



Gaslrostomus Bairdii, Gill aud Ryder, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mns., 18S:!, vi, 271. 



The cranium forms about one-thirtieth or less of the extreme length, and is as broad as 

 long; the jaws are excessively elongated, being nearly (in large) or more (in young) than 

 7 times longer than the cranium; there are about 100 rays in the dorsal fin and about 

 107 in the anal; the pectorals are very small, being only about as long as the diameter of 

 the eye, and little more than twice as long as wide at the base, and have about nine simple 

 rays. The rays of the unpaired tins are quite flexible in the small individuals, but quite 

 rigid and more perfectly ossified in the larger; they become obsolete toward the end of the 

 tail. The rays, which are rigid and well ossified anteriorly, become shorter, very slender, 

 and flexible — in fact, almost as limp as threads near the end of the tail. The vertebral 

 bodies become longer and more attenuated toward the end of the tail. 



Meter. 



Extreme length 47 



Body : 



Height at branchial region 035 



Height at anus 025 



Height at commencement of anal (in 02 



Length of abdominal cavity 05 



Meter. 

 Cranium : 



Length 015 



Width 015 



Inten>rbital area 011 



Orbit, diameter 003 



