DISCUSSION ()F SPECIES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 1 89 



HOPLOSTETHUS, Cuvier and Valenciennes. 



Eoplosteihus, Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Pois9., iv, L829, 169, pi. 97, bis.— GOnther, Cat. Pish. 



Brit. Mils., i, 9.— Jordan and Gilbert, Bnll. 16, 1'. S. Nat. Mns., 158. 

 Trachichthya tin part i, Lowe, Fishes of Madeira, 55. 



Body deep, compressed. Scales moderate, somewhat ctenoid; lateral line present, its 

 scales enlarged; abdomen with a series of bony plates, each ending in a retrorse spine. 

 Head large, deeper than long, with very conspicuous muciferous cavities, covered by thin 

 skin. Eye verylarge. Mouth very wide, oblique; the jaws equal when it is closed. Jaws 

 and palatines with fine, villiform teeth: vomer toothless. A strong spine at the angle of 

 the preopercle; the long vertical limb of the preopercle finely serrated. Gill membranes 

 separate, tree from the isthmus. Dorsal tin single, short, the spines graduated, <> in mini 

 ber; anal with 3 graduated spines; caudal forked, its rudimentary rays spinous; pectorals 

 symmetrical, rather long; vent nils I, 6, rather short. Air bladder simple. Pyloric caeca 

 numerous. Vertebras 11+15. 



HOPLOSTETHUS MEDITERRANEANS. CUVIER and VALENCIENNES. (Figure 208.) 



Hoploatethua mediterraneua, Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv, 4(59, pi. xcvu. — Guichenot, 

 Explor. Alger. Poiss., 42. — GONTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit Mus., I, 9; Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1878, I, 

 485.— Jordan and Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. N. M.. 458.— Moreau, Hist. Nat., Poiss. de la France, u, 322.— 

 Steindachner, Denkschr. d. k. Akad. d. Wiss. Wien, 1883, xlvii, 218, pi. I. 



Trachichthya specioam, Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc, London, 18S!», p. 77; Fishes of Madeira, 55, pi. ix. 



Hoploatethua japonicus, Hilgendorf, Sitznngsh, Gesellsch. Naturf. Freunde, Berlin, 1879, 78. 



Eye large, its diameter longer than snout, and about one-third the length of the head. 

 Abdominal plates 9 to 13 in number. Body above with very small roughish scales; sides in 

 young nearly or quite naked (example seen); scaly in the adult. Pectorals reaching first 

 soft ray of anal; ventrals to vent; fins rather low. Color silvery, rosy in life; fins scarlet, 

 peritoneum and inside of mouth black. 



Radial formula: D. VI, 12-1.1; A. Ill, 8-11; V. I, 6; L. lat. 28-31. 



Specimens of this species have been discovered at distant intervals of time at consid- 

 erable depth (the precise depth is not known) in the western parts of the Mediterranean, 

 off Madeira, and recently also in the sea of Japan. Dr. Hilgendorf was of opinion that 

 he could specifically distinguish Japanese specimens by a somewhat larger number of ab- 

 dominal scutes. This would have been a character insignificant enough, even if the Japan- 

 ese specimens had not sometimes the same number of scutes as the Mediterranean. A 

 more important difference seems to be the structure of the scales, which I find in Japanese 

 specimens, on the whole, less strongly ctenoid than the Madeiran. But even in this respect 

 there is no constancy in specimens from either of the two localities. (Giinther.) 



Specimens have been obtained by the Albatross as follows: From station 2l2."i, in 11° 43' 

 X. lat.. 69° 09' 30" W. Ion., at a depth of 208 fathoms; station 237G, in 29° 03' 15" N. lat., 

 88 10" W. Ion., tit a depth of 324 fathoms; Cat. No. 35656, U. S. X. M., from station 2232, 

 in MSo 37' 30" N. lat., 73° 11' W. Ion., at a depth of 243 fathoms, and Cat. No. 35414, U. 

 S. X. M„ from station 217(1, in 39° 32' :w N. lat., 72° 21' 30" W. Ion., at a depth of 302 

 fathoms. Also by the Fish Ha irk as follows : Cat. No. 28879, U. S. N. M., from station 1026, 

 in 39o 50' 30" N. lat., 71° 23' W. Ion., at a depth of 182 fathoms; Cat. No. 28906, U. S. N. 

 M., from station 1025, in 39° 49' N. lat., 71° 25' W. Ion., at a depth of 216 fathoms; Cat. 

 No. 29052, U. S. N. M., from station 1045, in 38° 35' N. lat,, 73° 13' W. Ion., at a depth of 

 312 fathoms; Cat. No. 30277, U. S. N. M., from station 998, in 39° 43' N. lat., 71° 32' W. 

 Ion., at a depth of 302 fathoms, and Cat, No. 26726, U. S. X. M., from station 897, in 37 25' 

 N. lat., 74° 18' W. Lou., at a depth of 157A fathoms. 



HOPLOSTETHUS ATLANTICUS, Collett. 

 Hoploxtethii* atlanticua, COLLETT, Bull. Soc. Zool, France, 1889, 306. 



Height of body contained 2.7 times in the total length (caudal included); length of 

 head 3 times. Diameter of the eye a little greater than the length of the snout ; contained 



