I'isi I'SSION OF SPECIES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 



207 



alveolar groove; no teeth on palatine; eye very large; back occupied by a long dorsal lin, 

 divided in fcwosubequal parts. Anal spines numerous and feeble; a dagger-shaped spine 

 behind the vent. Caudal well developed, deeply cleft; pectorals moderate, rounded; veu- 

 trals absent; branchiostegals seven; air-bladder present. Pyloric appendages few. 1 



APIIANOPFS CABBO, Lowe. (Figure 216.) 



Aphaiwpu* carbo, LOWE, Proo. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1839, 79. — GONTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., n. 18(30, 343 

 (with description of skeleton). — Challenger Report, XXII, 1887, 37, pi. VII, fig. A.— CAPKLLO, Jorn. Sci. 

 Ar;nl., Lisb., vol. I, tab. iv, fig. 1. 



This species lias never been described, except in so far as its characters are included 



in that of the genus. Lowe's original statement concerning it was as follows: 



Of this most curious new genus a single individual only has yet occurred. The whole 

 fish is of a dark coffee color, approaching to black ('uniform black,' says (iiinther), and has 

 in form so close a general resemblance to Lepidopus argyreus, that it might well be taken 

 hastily for a mere variety of that lish. 



It has been obtained only from Madeira aud the coast of Portugal, where specimens 4 

 or 5 feet long have, in rare instances, as stated by Capello, been caught on the long lines 

 used by the fishenneu for the capture of deep-sea sharks. 



■• We have no information," writes Giinther, " as to the exact depth at which this lish 

 lives, but there is no doubt that it belongs to the deep-sea fauna. The large eye, the black 

 color of the body, and the thinness of the bones of the head and of the vertebne, are ad- 

 ditional evidence of the bathybial habits of the fish." 



APHANOPUS MINOR, Collett. 

 Jphanojms minor, Collett, Vidensk. Selsk. Forhandl. C'hristiania, 1886, No. 19, 3. 



A single specimen of a silvery-gray species of Aphtmoptts was taken July 4, 1886, off 

 the east coast of Greenland, lat. 6.3° N., Ion. 31° W., by Captain Pedersen, of Sandefjord, 

 Norway, who placed it in the University Museum at Christiania. 



The following is Collett's diagnosis: 



Dark silvery or steel- colored. The length of the head is about 2% in the length of the 

 body to the vent; diameter of the eye about 4t in the length of the head; 8 long teeth in 

 the intermaxillary, the two foremost "canines" the longest; 8 teeth in the lower jaw, a trifle 

 shorter; no teeth in vomer and the palatine bones. Ventrals, none; a strong dagger- 

 shaped spine behind the vent. Air bladder present; appendices pylorica?., 7. 



Length from tip of snout to the vent (in the single specimen examined) 352 millimeters. 



Radial formula: D. 41. + ?; A?; B. vn. 



MEASUREMENTS. 



Millimeters. 



Snout to vent 352 



Length of head 131 



Length of head to tip of snout 126 



Greatest height of head (above the eyes) 38 



Eye to tip of under jaw 57 



Length of snout 53 



Diameter of eye T, 



Postorbital part of head 46 



Millimeters. 



Length of intermaxillary 57 



Length of mandible 82 



Greatest height of body is 



Height of body at anus 40 



Distance of vent from anal fin 16 



Distance of eye from nostril 8 



Length of pectoral 50 



1 The following is Lowe's diagnosis, as published in 1839: "Form as in Lepidopus, elongate, much com- 

 pressed, like a sword blade, naked, but with a short keel on each side toward the tail. Muzzle and teeth 

 as in Lepidopus (Gouan), but the palatines unarmed. Dorsal lins 2, nearly equal. Anal lin as in Lepi- 

 dopus (but w ith a strong, sharp spine instead of a scale before it), a little behind the vent. No trace or rudi- 

 ment of ventral tins." 



