218 BULLETIN OF THE 



Pectoral. Distance from snout 144 



Length 105 



Length of prolonged ray 132 



Ventral. Distance from snout 175 



Length 70 



Branchiostegals X (•) 



Dorsal 17 



Anal 11 



Caudal 19 



Pectoral . . . . . . . . ■ . . 15 



Ventral .......... 8 



Number of scales in lateral line 78 



Number of transverse rows above lateral line ... 8 

 Number of transverse rows below lateral line ... 8 



ALEPOCEPHALID^. 

 36. Alepocephalus Agassizii, new species. 



A single specimen of Alcpocephalirs was obtained at Station 338, in 922 fath- 

 oms, Lat. 38° 18' 40" N., Long. 73° 18' 10" W. 



This is the fourth species of the genus which has, to date, come up for de- 

 scription : the first, A. rostratus, having been described by Risso from tlie 

 Mediterranean in 1820; the second, A. nigcr, from north of Australia, at a 

 depth of 1,400 fathoms, obtained by H. M. S. " Cliallenger," and described 

 by Gvinther in 1878 ; the third, A. Bairdii, from the Grand Banks of New- 

 foundland, at a depth of 200 fathoms, described by us in 1879. The former 

 American species having been named in honor of the Director of the U. S. 

 National Museum, we propose to dedicate the one now under consideration to 

 the Curator of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, under the name Alepo- 

 cephalus Agassizii. 



Diagnosis. — Body slightly less elongate than in A. Bairdii, its height being 

 contained very slightly more than five times in its length to origin of middle 

 caudal rays, somewhat compressed, its width being about half its height. The 

 least height of the tail is contained twelve times in the length of the body. 



Scales apparently ovate-lanceolate, parchment-like, smaller than in .4. 

 Bairdii : the specimen is almost denuded of scales, and their arrangement 

 in the drawing has been in part made out from their impressions upon the 

 skin. There are ninety scales in the lateral line, ten between lateral line 

 and origin of dorsal, eleven between same and origin of anal. The base of the 

 dorsal is squamose, the anal slightly so, but probably less than in A. Bairdii. 



Head somewhat compressed, snout conically elongate, the lower jaw sliglitly 

 produced. Its length is contained three times in the length of the body (in 

 A. Bairdii, 4^), slightly exceeding twice the length of the lower jaw, and four 

 times the least height of the tail (in A. Bairdii, less than three). Width 



