DISCUSSION OF SPECIES ANT) THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 293 



termaxdlary alone, bears along its margin a series of small teeth, and inside of these is a 

 series which is directed inward toward the month, whose palate on botli sides is furnished 

 with numerous thin and feeble teeth, directed inward toward the mouth and arranged in 

 a cardiform band; the vomer, on tlie contrary, is toothless. The teeth of the mandible are 

 variable in size, some long, some short. The eye is of medium size, its diameter less than 

 its distance from the point of the snout. .Many ofthe scales of the bead — forehead and nuchal 

 regions — and the upper ridge of the shoulder girdle show well developed sculpturings. The 

 mucous pores of the head ipits and branches of the lateral line) are especially developed 

 on the forehead and temporal regions, behind the eyes, along the preoperculum, etc. On 

 many parts of the skin are seen sharply denned lines; series of closely placed pores — for 

 example, a series begins on the isthmus, close behind the angle formed by t he gill-opening, 

 and runs along the median line of the hods until about the ventral tins, then begins again 

 a little behind these and continues to the sent, where it is divided into two branches, the 

 first curved up on the side and so backward, running along parallel to. bul at some distance 

 from the anal tin on each side for its w hole length : finally there is a little posterior broader 

 portion in the middle line iu front of the caudal tin. Immediately behind the ventral tins 

 there is a short cross line of the same structure, and it is continued on each side at a right 

 angle along the innermost ventral ray. The lateral line consists of only a single series of 

 rather large pores, but the pore system of the above named species is found besides 

 along the upper and under jaws; as for the upper jaw, however, only along its posterior 

 portion; the mandibulary line of pores is divided into two parts. The ventral tins are 

 located immediately behind the pectorals, whose length is nearly 3 times as great. The 

 short first dorsal tin begins immediately over the ventrals; the second, longer dorsal fin 

 and the anal fin have an equal extent, and are separated somewhat widely from the caudal; 

 both are very low in their posterior half. 



Radial formula: D. S+22 (?); A. ca. 22; P. 13; V. G. 



PONERODON, Alcock. 



Ponerodon, Alcock, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1890, n, 203. 



A.canthopterygians, with body elongate, naked. Eyes lateral. Two separate dorsal 

 fins, of which the second is much the longer, and equal, opposite, and similar to the anal; 

 ventrals thoracic; pectoral rays branched. Cleft of mouth extremely wide: jaws distensi- 

 ble and armed with canine teeth, as are also the palatines. Grill-openings very wide, the 

 gill-membranes united anteriorly; preoperculum with a (small) spine at its angle; 7 branchi- 

 ostegals; pseudobranchiae. Lateral line single, uninterrupted. Abdominal cavity enor- 

 mous. No air bladder. No pyloric ca-ca. No anal papilla. Vertebras 14/24. 



This genus is represented by a single species [Ponerodon vastator, Alcock, <>/». eit, 

 203, pi. ix. fig. 5), obtained by the Investigator in 1890, at station 102, off the Madias coast, 

 at a depth of 090 to 920 fathoms. 



Family URANOSCOPIDyE. 



Uranoseopidce, Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1861, m; Arr. Fam. Fish., 5 CNo. 1 1 ).— Jordan and Gil- 



bert, Bull. wi. t\ s. Nat. Mns., 629. 

 I ranoscopina, Gttn i inc. Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., n. 225. 



Body oblong, widest and usually deepest at the occiput. Scales adherent, small, 

 smooth, arranged in oblique series, Sometimes wanting. Lateral line near dorsal outline, 

 feeble or obsolete. Head cuboid, partly mailed above. Lyes vertical, small and anterior, 

 on the top of the head. Mouth vertical, with strong and prominent inaudible: lips more or 

 less conspicuously fringed; teeth moderate, on the jaws, and usually on the vomer and 

 palatines also; premaxillaries protractile; maxillary broad, without supplemental bone, not 

 slipping under the preorbital. Gill-openings large; gill membranes free from isthmus, 

 nearly separate. Branchiostegals 6. Gills.;.;,, a small slit behind the last. Pseudobranchise 

 present. No anal papilla. Dorsal fins 1 or 2, spinous pari short, suit part elongate; anal 



