DISCISSION OF SPECIES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 203 



branes separate, free from isthmus, Cills four, with a slit behind the fourth. Abdominal 

 ami caudal vertebra- numerous. Pyloric caeca in large numbers. 



KEY TO THE CEXEKA OF I/I'.PIDOITD.E. 



I. Dorsal continuous. Teeth on palatines. Ventrala present, scale-like, rudimentary. No post-anal spine 



LEPIDOPIN i 

 A. Body high. Head with crest. Teeth in jaws lanceolate in single rows. Pectorals broad, furcate. 

 \ entrals inserted considerald\ behind pectorals. 



1. Head rather long, with lateral occipital crests converging anteriorly. Orbit near to profile. 



Maxillary curved and upper ja^i shorter than lower Lepidopus 



2. Head rather short, lugh, compressed above into a trenchant edge. Profile convex, declivous, far 



from orbit. Mouth somewhat oblique. Maxillary straight, .laws equal.... Evoxymetopon 

 li. Body low. Head crestless. Anterior teeth long, compressed, posterior ones aeienlar; a few minute 



teeth outside of anterior long ones. Pectorals slender, rounded. Ventrala under root of 

 pectorals. 

 I. ilead rat her long, depressed, with orbits encroaching upon profile. Maxillary curved. Lower 

 jaw projecting Benthodesmi b 



II. Dorsal in two Bubequal portions, closely contiguous. No teeth on palatines. Ventrals absent. A 



dagger-like post-ana Ispine Apiianoi'IX.i: 



a. Headlong, pointed. Eye very large, not close to profile. Upper jaw slightly curved, lower slightly 

 projecting APHAHOPTJS 



LEPIDOPUS, Gouan. 



Lepidopua, Gocax, Historia Piscium, 1770, 185. — Cdvikr and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. vm, 218. — 



GtlNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. n, 1860, 342; Challenger Report, xxu, 1887, 37. 

 Vandellius, Shaw, Zoology, iv, p. 199. 

 Ziphotkeca, Montagu, Wern. Mem., i, 82, Pis. ii-m; n, 432. 



Body very elongate, band-like, scaleless; head pointed, with lateral occipital crests con- 

 verging anteriorly: clefl of the mouth wide, the jaws being armed with strong lanceolate 

 teeth in a single series, larger ones in front; a series of minute teeth on the margins of the 

 palatines. Nodules oblique. Eyes large. Along the whole of the back one single dorsal 

 tin ; anal spines numerous, but minute or hidden beneath the skin; no post-anal spines; 

 caudal well developed; ventral tins rudimentary, inserted behind the pectorals. Two post 

 anal scutes. Eight branchiostegals; air-bladder present. Pyloric creca somewhat numer- 

 ous. Type, Lepidopu8 Goucmi, Bl. 



LEPIDOPUS CAUDA I IS. (Euphrasen), White. (Figure213.) 



Trichiurua caudatus, Euphrasen, Stockh. K. Vet. Acad. Nya. Hand!., 17sx. i\, 52, Tab. 9, Fig. 2. 

 Lepidopua caudatus, White, List of Brit. Pishes, 1851, 32. — Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. a, 344 (with 

 extended sj nonymy). 



Height of the body 15J in the total length, the caudal deeply forked. Anal spines in 

 great number — minute, if visible. Color, uniform silvery. 



Radial formula: D. 102-104; A. 24-5. 



Caec. Pylor. 23. Vertebra 41+71. (G-iinther.) This form has been taken many times 

 during thecentury, from Norway to South Africa, and the Mediterranean. It evidently lives 

 at considerable depth and comes rarely to the surface. It has not been found in the West- 

 ern Atlantic. A specimen was obtained by John Xantns de Vesey at Cape St. Lucas, and 

 the species is also known as the u Frost-fish," about Tasmania and New Zealand, where, 

 according to Lendenfeld, it occurs periodically in great numbers, evidently coming up from 

 the depths to deposit its spawn near the shore. 1 



EVOXYMETOPON (Poey) Gill. 



Evoxymetopon, < Poey,) (in.i., Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1st;:;, l'l's. 



Bodj very elongate, band-like; head with the supraocular portion compressed into a 

 trenchant edge, and the upper profile abruptly descending towards the end of the snout; 

 eye of moderate size, much below the upper profile. Cleft of the mouth wide: teeth lance 



Zodlogiselier Anzeiger, 1883, 559. 



