248 BULLETIN : MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE 'ZOOLOGY. 



in the text. In a general way the form is tliat of a Chimaera with a long pro- 

 boscis from the forehead. The amount of compression in the head and body is 

 not very great ; the body cavity is included in the anterior half of the total 

 length ; the head is massive, rather longer than the abdominal portion of the 

 body, and has a long tapering rostrum which is subtriangular in cross-section, 

 placed pretty well up on the forehead, flattened and provided with special 

 sensory apparatus on the lower side, depressed and slender forward, and 

 pointed at the end; the caudal region occupies half or more of the total len"-th, 

 is compressed and tapers regularly to a filamentary extremity, is encroached 

 upon by the second dorsal fin, is surmounted in part by a low rudimentarv fin, 

 the upper edge of which bears an armature, and is subtended by a longer, 

 deeper, and unarmed subcaudal fin. The skin is soft and smooth ; there are 

 four vertical fins and two pairs ; the anterior dorsal is erectile and has a strong 

 serrated spine and distinct radials. The length of the head is more than one- 

 fourth, the length of the caudal section is about one-half, the length of the 

 snout is little more than onesi.\th, the depth is nearly one-tenth, and the width 

 is nearly one-fifteenth of the total length. The oral portion of the head is 

 prominent ; the mouth is similar to that of Chimaera. As in the other recent 

 Cliimaeroids, there are three pairs of the teeth, one of palatines, one of vcmer- 

 ines and one of mandibulars, Plate 5, Figures 1 and 2. Mere dot-like points, to 

 be seen under a lens, on the sharp edges of the tet-th, are the only approaches 

 to tritors ; they have the appearance of the ends of small pores. By compari- 

 son of the tongue figured on Plate 12 with those on Plate 5 and Plate 13, it will 

 be seen that this organ attains a somewhat greater development in the present 

 form. 'Ihe eye is large and is placed on the side of the head in such position 

 as to conimnnd views outward, forward, and upward without hindrance. On 

 the first and the second arches there are five well- developed gillrakers, with 

 several rudiments; they are short, hardly one-sixth as long as the eye, and are 

 acuminate; on the third arch and the fourth all of the lakers are more or less 

 rudimentary. This individual, being a mature male, possesses a frontal ten- 

 aculum, armed with about ten series of hooked spines, above the front edge 

 of the orl)it on the forehead. The liaik is nearly straight. The dorsal spine 

 is situated above the bases of the pectoi-als ; it is strong, has a narrow ridge in 

 front, and is smooth on all edges with the exception of slight roughnesses on the 

 hinder angles near the outer end, possible indications of sharp hooks on young 

 individuals. Four rays appear in the first dorsal behind the spine, and a low 

 membrane connects this fin with the second dorsal, which last rises gradually 

 to less than half the height of the first and terminates abruptly more than twice 

 the length of the eye forward from the origin of the upper fin of the tail. 'J'he 

 upper caudal fin rises gradually, and, descending even more so, terminates 

 more than twice the length of the orbit forward of the end of the tail, on this 

 specimen. On the upper edge of this fin. which is somewhat rudimentary, 

 there is a peculiar arrangement of small spines, Plate 4, Figure 2 ; a pair of 

 larger ones are placed side by side and directed laterally, and behind each pair, 

 between it and the next, there is a couple (1-3) of smaller spines placed longi- 



