Waite. — New Zealand Fishes. 



385 



is most nearly allied to C. foliaceus. Giiuther,* from Japan, a fact readiU' 

 ascertainable by consulting the admirable " Synopsis of the Sharks of the 

 Family Squalid*," by Regan. t The first character used in diagnosing the 

 species of the genus Centrophorus is that of the condition of the posterior or 

 inner angle of the pectoral fin — (1) not, or but slightly, produced ; (2) con- 

 siderably produced and acutely pointed. 



According to the synopsis, C foliaceus and C. steindachneri, Pietsch- 

 mann.f are nearly allied, and are placed under the first division. Judging 

 only from descriptions and figiu'es, the association does not seem to be close, 

 for while C foliaceus agxees in having the angle of the pectoral not at all pro- 

 duced, C. steindachneri is thus described : " Die innere (Kante der Pector- 

 alen) i)i eine nach hinten gerichtete Spitze ausgezogen." The figure,§ which 

 appears to have been issued later, and after Mr. Regan's paper was pub- 

 lished, also shows a very decided acuteness of the pectoral lobe. Pietsch 

 mann himself states that his species is most nearly allied to C. foliaceus, 

 but differs, among other characters, in the " form of the pectoral." 



Length of head, 4-6 ; caudal, 4-7 in the length to the base of the caudal ; 



diameter of eye, 5 ; interorbital space, 2-4 ; length of snout, 4-5 ; width 



of snout, 2-3 in the head ; width of spiracle, 2-1 in the eye and 3-5 in the 



interspiracular space. 



Head broad, gTeatly depressed, and flat above ; eye large, the lateral 



cavity much longer than the eyeball, and recessed before and behind. 



Nostrils on lower side of snout, 

 nearer to its tip than to the eye ; 

 their distance apart one-fifth greater 

 than the diameter of the eye and 

 1-86 in the preoral portion of the 

 snout. Mouth wide, its width half 

 the length of the head ; it Hes 

 nearer the end of the snout than 

 to the first gill-opening. A strong 

 fold across the angle ; its length 

 only one-fourth less than the width 

 of the mouth ; the preangular por- 

 tions together 

 occupy more 

 than one-half 

 the width of 

 the upper lip ; 



the post-angular portion is the longer and reaches to be- 

 neath the spiracle ; the lower labial fold is shorter than 



that of the upper lip. Teeth in the upper jaw small. 



very acute, lying in four rows, and two-rooted, those 



of the lower jaw with an upper obUque cutting-edge 



and a laterally directed cusp ; there is only a single 



row, formed of 30 teeth (teeth in centre of mouth 



lost). Spiracle large, a little nearer the eye than the gill-opening. The 



latter are subequal and low, being only half the diameter of the eye ; the 



last one is immediately in front of the pectoral fin. 



* Giintber, Chall. Rep., Zool., " Deep-sea Fishes," xxii, 1887. p. 5, pi. ii, fig. A. 

 t Regan. Aim. Mag. Nat Hist. (8), ii, 1908, p. 39. 

 % Pietschmann. Aiiz. Akad. Wien, xx. 1907. p. 394. 

 §/(/.. loc. cit., cx^^i 1908, p. 667, pi. i, fig. 1. 

 13— Trans. 



