MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 209 



contained 31 times in the long diameter of the eye. Nostrils immediately in 

 front of the eye. Teeth as in Lycodcs. The maxilla extends to the vertical 

 through the anterior margin of the pupil ; the mandible, to a little behind the 

 vertical through the posterior margin of the pupil. 



The dorsal fin is inserted slightly behind the vertical through the base of 

 the pectoral ; the portion of the fin present in the mutilated specimen before 

 us contains 80 articulated rays. The first ten or eleven scutes do not support 

 rays, but whether rays were originally present or not cannot now be ascer- 

 tained. The longest dorsal ray is about equal to the longest anal ray, its 

 length being contained about three times in that of the head. The distance of 

 the vent from the snout is twice the length of the head ; the anal begins im- 

 mediately behind the vent ; it consists at present of about 70 articulated rays. 

 The caudal raj's extend beyond the tij3s of the ultimate dorsal and anal rays ; 

 they are about 9 in number. 



The distance of the ventral from the snout is equal to twice the length of 

 the upper jaw ; the middle ventral ray is the longest, it being half as long as 

 the postorbital part of the head. 



The length of the pectoral equals three times that of the snout. 



Radial formula : D. 80+ ; A. 70+ ; C. 9 ; P. 18 ; V. 3. 



The single mutilated specimen was from Station 337. It measured 112 mil- 

 limeters in its imperfect condition. 



Station. N. Lat. W. Long. Fathoms. Specimen. 



337 38° 20' 8" 73° 23' 20" 740 1 



25. Melanostigma gelatinosum, Gunther. 



Melanostigma rjeluttnosum, GiiNxiiER, Proc. Zoob Soc. London, 1881, Part 1, Jan. 4, 

 p. 21 (genus, p. 20), PI. II. fig. A. 



A single greatly mutilated specimen, 103 mm. long, was obtained. 



It has since been taken by the U. S. Fish Commission, in the deep water off 

 Martha's Vineyard. 



This species was described from a sp^jcimen obtained, January 16, 1880, by 

 Dr. Coppinger, of H. M. S. Steamer " Alert," at Tilly Bay in the Straits of 

 Magellan, in 24 fathoms. Dr. Gunther remarks (op. cit, p. 21), "The fish is 

 evidently habitually living at a greater depth than that at which Dr. Coppinger 

 happened to obtain the single specimen in his collection." This does not seem 

 to us to be necessarily a logical conclusion, since, as is well known to those who 

 have studied the distribution of deep-sea forms in the Western Atlantic, those 

 which are found at great depths in temperate seas are shore inhabitants in seas 

 near the poles. 



