294 DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



long. Caudal not forked. Pectoral fins with broad, oblique bases, the lower rays rapidly 

 shortened, most of them branched. Ventrals jugular, close together, i, 5, the spine very 

 short, the innermost rays the longest. Air-bladder generally absent. Pyloric e;eca in mod 

 erate number. 



URANOSCOPUS, Linnseus. 



Urannscopus, Linn.ecs. Systems NaturaB, oil. x, 17.">8. r, 250. — Cuvier, Regne Animal, ed. i, 1817, n, 301. — 

 Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., in. 285. — Gunthek, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mas., n, 226. 



Head large, broad, partly covered with bony plates; body somewhat cylindrical; cleft 

 of the mouth vertical; eye ou the upper side of the head. Scales very small. Twodorsals, 

 the first with three to five spines; ventrals jugular; pectoral rays branched. Villiform 

 teeth in the jaws, on the vomer, and palatine bones, without canines; generally a filament 

 below and before the tongue; opercular apparatus generally armed; cavity of the gills with 

 an opening above the operculum as well as posteriorly. Pseudobranchiae; six branchios- 

 tegals. Air -Madder none; pyloric appendages in moderate number. (Oilnther.) 



Uranoscopus erassiceps, Alcock, a species with an immense inflated head (Ann. and Mag. 

 Nat. Hist., 1890, n. 205), was taken by the In vestigator in the Pay of Bengal at station !)G, in 

 98-102 fathoms. One of the 25 specimens captured had in its stomach 7 specimens of Scop- 

 elus pterotm. It is very possibly a resideut beyond the hundred-fathom line. 



Family BATRACHID^E. 



Batraehidce, Swatnson, Nat. Hist. Fish, etc., 1839, n. 184, 282.— Gunther, Cat. Fish. Rrit. Mus., in, 1GG.— 

 Gill, Ait. Fain. Fish., 1872. 5 (No. tl).— JORDAN and Gilbert, Bull. XVI, V. S. Nat. Mas., 750. 

 Body depressed in front, compressed behind; head large, depressed, with unarmed 

 cheeks and with conspicuous muciferous channels. Teeth strong. Premaxillaries protrac- 

 tile. Gills 3, a slit behind the last. Pseudobranchiae none. Gill-openings lateral, with 

 membranes broadly united to istlimus. Gill rakers present, moderate. Suborbital without 

 bony stay; post-temporal hone simple, undivided; scales small, cycloid, or wanting. Dor- 

 sal tins two, the first of 2 or 3 low. stout spines; soft dorsal elongate and similar to anal, 

 but shorter. Ventrals jugular, rather large (i, 2 or I, 3). Pectorals very broad, the rays 

 branched; pyloric cava none. Caudal distinct, rounded. 



Genus PORICHTHYS, Girard. 



Poriehfhys, Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1851, 111. — Guntiier. op. cit., 175. — Jordan and Gilbert, 

 op. cit., 751. 



Body cottiform. Ilead rather broad, depressed, the lower jaw projecting: mouth wide 

 with conical teeth in jaws, and a canine on either side of vomer; operculum with single 

 spine. Skin naked, with several series of distinct mucous pores. Spinous dorsal with 2 

 minute spines. Pectoral broad. Branchiostegals vi. Air bladder in two lateral parts. 

 Vertebra? 11+31. (Jordan and Gilbert.) 



PORICHTHYS POROSISSIMFS, (CUV. & Yal.),GCnther. (Figure 267.) 



Batrachus porosissimus, Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xn, 501. 

 Porichthya porosissimus, Gunther, up. cit., in, 176. — Jordan and Gilbert, Inc. cit. 



Depth of body one-sixth of its total length. Dead narrowed anteriorly, its length 

 3g-4i in total length. Head with several rows of fringed pores; 2 concentric series on the 

 abdomen, the outer extending forwards between bases of ventrals. Ventrals reaching 

 i k i ses of pectorals. Pectorals reach to vertical from sixth anal ray. Caudal not half as 

 long as head. Color olive-brown above, with coppery reflections, the belly brassy-yellow; 

 sides with irregular broad, vertical cross-blotches, most distinct in the young; dorsal gray- 

 ish with oblique dark bars; vertical fins sometimes margined with black; pores of lateral 

 lines bead-like, shining silvery; a white space below eye, with a black crescent below it. 



Eadial formula: D. n, 37; A. 33; V. i, 2; P. 18. 



This form, well known on the western coasts of tropical America, occurs in deep water in 



