BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 743 



rays : anal originating below the dorsal notch : inner ventral ray 

 the lonijer, 4 of the head and rather less than ^ the distance 

 between its origin and the anal : pectoral with 15 rays, the 12th 

 the longest, reaching to the vertical from the vent, and as long 

 as the head : caudal 3X in the head; caudal peduncle deep, 1§ 

 times its length behind the dorsal fin, and 4i in the depth of the 

 body. Dark chocolate-brown, almost black, the abdomen some- 

 what lighter; head and anterior parts of the body with scattered 

 bluish dots : anterior dorsal rays more or less fully tipped with 

 white. 



Etymology : — albus, white; apicalis, at the apex, tipped : 

 in allusion to the white extremity of the first dorsal fin. 



Distribution : — Lord Howe Island : Samoa; Tonga; Society 

 and Sandwich Islands. 



Mr. King has sent me a single specimen 53 millimeters in 

 length; specimens, however, measuring as much as 125 millimeters 

 were obtained under stones at low water mark by Mr. Saunders 

 in 1888 as recorded by the writer.* Although this is undoubtedly 

 the fish figured by G-linther under the name Salarias variolostts, I 

 cannot agree with that author as to the identity of his species 

 with that of Valenciennes. The latter gives the dorsal formula 

 as i|, and states that the dorsal fin reaches to the caudal, while 

 lie makes no mention of the conspicuous white patch on the 

 spinous portion of that fin, nor of the equally conspicuous fim- 

 briated lips In the latter case Giinther is in accord with 

 the French author in overlooking a character which is in fact 

 generic. On account of this and certain other peculiarities I 

 propose shortly to formulate a genus for the reception of Salarias 

 alboaincalis and its allies. 



BROTULID^. 

 DiAxciSTRUS, gen.nov. 



Body oblong-elongate, compressed, enveloped in a loose wrinkled 

 skin, which on the head conceals all traces of the membrane bones. 



* Lord Ho«e Island, Fish. p. 62, 1889. 



