DISCUSSION OF SPECIES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 379 



I owe tlieui to tlie kindness of my friend, Prof. Nicolaiis Kleinenherg, director of the 

 Zoological Institute of the Messina University, to whom I owe many other ichthyological 

 rarities; and as a mark of my gratitude and esteem I have tliought proper to give his name 

 to so singular a species, wliich is evidently as yet undescribed. These si)ecimens are now 

 in the central collection of Italian vertebrata in the Eoyal Zoological Museum at Florence. 

 As they present differences in size and in other respects, I shall j)roceed to describe them 

 briefly. 



My smallest specimen (pi. xxxiv, tig. 2) measui-es 28^ millimeters in total length; it 

 was caught on the 10th of May, 1887. It is evidently much younger than the other two; 

 the two dorsals are yet united and the larval median fin extends as a crest to the head. 

 The caudal is, however, quite distinct and remarkable for its lanceolate form. The abdom- 

 inal cone is comparati\ely smaller than in the two older specimens, and a membrane unites 

 its hinder portion to the aual flu. The lobe of the pectorals is very distinct, and the rays 

 look thickened at their distal ends. The veiitrals have the characteristic form and develop- 

 ment. The color of the body is yellowish white (in alcohol); 8 very distinct broad black 

 bands cross the body transversely, being slightly obli(iue: the first occupies the base of the 

 abdominal cone, the last the root of the tail; the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh are con- 

 tinued as a black blotch on the base of the anal fln; the ventral paddles are tijiped and 

 edged with black ; the ray is, however, white; otherwise the fins are colorless. Looking 

 with a lens, these black bands and blotches result in au accumulation of dark points or 

 chromatophores ; this is the case also in the other specimens. 



The second specimen, according to size and age, measures C8 millimeters in total 

 length; it is figured slightly enlarged (pl.xxxiv, fig.3). It was captured alive near the sur- 

 face in the harbor of Messina on the 2d of June, 1888. It bears considerable resemblance 

 to the first specimen described, but has lost some of tlie larval characters above noted ; all 

 the median fins are well distinct; the caudal has an oval contour, but the abdominal cone, 

 covered with a slightly silvery skin, shows still a posterior membranous fringe which par- 

 tially unites it with the anal fin. The pores on the head and nape are very di.stinct. In 

 color this specimen is also very similar to the first one; the black transverse bands are 

 very well marked, but they are slightly fainter and the first one does not extend to the 

 abdominal cone, which is well developed. Ten very distinct black blotches extend along 

 the base of the anal fin and three along the caudal end of the second dorsal; three addi- 

 tional blotches are on the back between the third and fourth, fifth and sixth, and sixth and 

 seventh transverse bands. 



The third specimen has the aspect of an adult. It was caught also near the surface 

 at the entrance to the harbor of Messina at the end of April, 1884. It measures 78 milli- 

 meters in total length; head, IG millimeters; from najie to apex of abdominal cone, 27 milli- 

 7neters; height of body immediately behind the abdominal cone, 12 millimeters. I have 

 figured it once and a half the natural size (PI. xxxiv. Fig. 4). It differs especially in color 

 from the two y(ranger and smaller specimens; the transverse dark bands on the body and 

 blotches along the median fins are faintly marked. The paddles of the ventral fins are 

 tipped with blackish brown, and were edged with violet in the fresh specimen, the general 

 color of which was a faint pink, with yellowish tinge along the basal half of the dorsal and 

 anal fins. The abdoininal cone is bright silvery; it has no trace of a hind marginal mem- 

 brane. The caudal is subtruncate; and, lastly, the cylindrical hyaline warts on the najje 

 are very prominent and distinct. {GigUoli.) 



HYPSIRHYNCHUS, Facciola. 



Hypsirhjjm-hiis, Faccioi.a, NatiiTiilistii Siciliauo, iii, pi. ii. 



A genus of Gadoidea related to Erctmoiihorus, but having sevcTi ventral rays, slightly 

 prolonged, and with rounded, rather than lanceolate, tips. No abdominal cone. 



