DISCUSSION OF SPECIES AND THEIB DISTRIBUTION. 335 



panded at its tip; its length (13 millimeters) more than halt that of head. Length of man 

 dible (15 millimeters) equal to greatest height of body, .laws, vomer, and palatines with 

 narrow bands of villiform teeth, none of which are enlarged. Gill rakers, 15 on anterior 

 arch below tin' angle, ■'< rudimentary ones above. 



The anterior pair of nostrils are nearly on top of the snout, and somewhat nearer to 

 its tip than to the eye, separated by a very narrow space, and placed immediately in front 

 of the middle of the eye. Behind each posterior nostril is a strong spine projecting out 

 ward and backward. Tores of the head arranged much as in Bassozetus. 



Scales minute. Lateral line not clearly to be made out. Three rows of minute pores 

 on each side dorsal, median, and ventral, beginning near the head and extending well to- 

 ward the extremity of the tail. 



Dorsal origin slightly behind vertical through pectoral base; its distance from the 

 snout (25 millimeters) marly <> times in length of body. -Its rays are moderately long, the 

 longest about as long as the snout (one-fourth of head), and very numerous. 



Anal origin in vertical from twenty-second or twenty-third dorsal ray; its distance 

 from the snout ( 11 millimeters) 3J times in length of body. Its rays about as longasthose 

 of the dorsal. 



Pectoral imperfect, its length in the type equals one-half that of the head. 



Ventral a bifid filament, placed close to the humeral symphysis, well in advance of the 

 pectoral; its length (15 millimeters) equal to height of body. Distance from origin of ven- 

 trals to vent (22 millimeters) nearly equal to length of head The ventral does not reach to 

 the vent by a distance equal to leugth of snout. 



Color, blackish brown. 



The type (No. 35625, U.S.N. M.) is 153 millimeters in length; it is from Albatross 

 station 2230, N. lat. 38° 27', \V. Ion. 73° 02', at a depth of 1,168 fathoms. 



PENOPUS, Goode and Bean, n. g. 



Body stout in front, tapering behind. Tail not greatly exceeding the length of the 

 rest of the fish. Head scaly, thick, its top surface flat, with depressed and moderately 

 projecting snout. A pair of minute postnasal spines; a strong and much curved spine on 

 the operculum ; several weak spines at the angle of the preoperculum, and several at the 

 posterior angle of the suboperculum. Mouth moderately large, the lower jaw included. 



Several narrow slit-like pores along the margin of the preorbital and suborbital. 

 Two minute pores on the under surface of the mandible near its symphysis, and not far 

 behind them two long slit-like pores. 



The anterior nostril is in a long slit, the posterior is larger, oblong in shape, and half 

 concealed by a fold of skin. Eye small. The teeth appear only as minute asperities; the 

 intermaxillary band much wider in front than behind. Mandibulary band narrow through- 

 out. Vomerine band very narrow V-shaped. Palatines in a long broad band. Gill-open 

 ings wide, deeply cleft in front, narrowly joined to the isthmus. Branchiostegals 8. No 

 pseudobrancbise. The gill-rakers are long and slender; not numerous. Gill-lamina' moder 

 ately loug. A long slit behind the fourth gill. Scales very small. Lateral lines, three. 

 Caudal tin consisting of few rays, well differentiated from the dorsal and anal. Dorsal 

 beginning not far behind the head. Ventrals slightly in advauce of the pectorals and 

 composed of two rays, united by membrane, which forms a margin around them. 



Pectoral normal; several of its upper rays simple. The vent is not much in advance 

 of the middle of the total length. 



This genus agrees with Porogadus in nearly every respect except in the scarcity of spines 

 on the head and in the structure of the ventrals. Porogadus has the ventrals composed of 

 two distinct rays which are separated throughout their entire length, but in Penopus the 

 two rays are inclosed in a membrane which connects them and forms a margin around 

 them. In Porogadus, also, the suboperculum has a smooth margin and the opercular spine 

 is weaker than in Pmopus, and it is not curved. 



