DISCUSSION OF SPECIES AND TIIEIK DlSTlUIiUTION. 317 



GRAMMONUS, Gill. 



Oligopua, Saci^pedes. — Risso, Iclith. Nice, 1810, 142. 



I'hrkhiim, GuStiier Cat. Fi.sli. liiit. Miis., iv, 1862,376 (not Scopou'); ChaHcuKiT Report, xxii, 105.— 



Canestrini, Pesci il'ltalia, I'Jl. — Moueau, Hist. Nat. Poiss., France, vii, 22S (family I'leiididtv.) 

 Grammunus, GlLL, MS. 



Head aud body compressed, covei'ed with .small scales, only tlie upper part of the 

 head aud the snout beiug uaked. The body is moderately elougate, the tail but little 

 atteuuated. Suout obtu.se, not swollen, with the jaws even in front, and with the mouth 

 obliquely ascending. Bones of the head firm, the muciferous canals narrow. Eye small. 

 Operculum with a short spiue behind; preoperculum with two short projections near the 

 angle. Barbels none. Bands of villiform teeth in the jaws and an open V-*'l'fiped band 

 on the vomer; some slightly enlarged teeth along the inner series of the mandible aud on 

 the vomer; i^alatine teeth none. Vertical fins continent; ventrals close together, reduced 

 to a ijair of fine simple filaments, and inserted somewhat behind the isthmus, below the 

 middle of the operculum. Lateral line interrupted. Gills 4: pseudobranchite none. 

 Branchiostegals S. Pyloric appendages 2. (Gilnther.) 



GRAMMONUS ATER, (Risso), Goode aud Bean. 



Olii/opus atei; Risso, Iclith. Nice, 1810, 142, pl. xi, fig. 41. 

 OlUjopns niijer, Risso, Hi.st. Nat. Europe Mciidionale, 1826, III, 338. 

 Gadopsis ater, De Filippi, Siebokl aud KiJlliker, Zeitsch. Wiss. Zool., 1855, 170. 



I'teridium alrum, De Filippi and Veuaxy, Mem. Accad. Sci., Turin (2), xviii. Sopra Alcuni Pesci (separate 

 from last), 11, fig. 6. — GCntiier, loc. cil. — Canestrixi, loc. cif. — MoReau, loc. lit., fig. 173. 



Body elongate, somewhat compressed, its height 5 to 6 times in total length. Head 

 large and long, its length 4 times in that of body. Mouth large, obliijue, the maxillary 

 extending beyond vertical from posterior margin of orbit. Jaws nearly equal. A row of 

 sharp teeth, far apart and few in number, in the midst of others which are closely set and 

 very small. Vomer with 2—1: large, recnrved teeth, in addition to several small ones. 

 Tongue smooth. Eye round, small, its diameter scarcely one-eighth the length of the 

 head. Lateral line interrupted, sometimes for a certain distance double. 



Dorsal origin in vertical from middle of pectoral, ventrals filiform, closely approximated, 

 each composed of two short rays. 



Kadial forniula: D. G4; A. 44; T. 20; V. 2. 



Color, blackish, sometimes with a reddish tint. 



This form is very rare, having been recorded only from the Mediterranean off Nice, 

 where it lives at considerable depths, approaching the shores in August to deposit its eggs 

 in the crevices of rocky ledges. It is not positively known to inhabit the region beyond 

 the hundred-fathom line. 



Giinther has studied the lateral line in a single specimen, lately acquired by the Brit- 

 ish Museum, and reports that it is rather indistinct and interrupted, and that, in his judg- 

 ment, the fact that the ends of the two portions overlaj) each other has given rise to the 

 statement that the lateral line is double along a portion of the tail. 



CAT./ETYX, Gunther. 

 Catailyx, GCnther, ChaUonger Report, xxil, 104. 



Body compressed, elongate, covered with very small and thin scales; lateral line in 

 distinct, interrui^ted. Head oblong, with somewhat pointed snout, covered with very small 

 scales, only the anterior part of the snout naked; bones of the head rather firm, but witli 

 the muciferous system well developed, the canals having wide oi)enings along the infraorbi- 

 tal, and on the lower limb of the preoperculum. Bye rather small. Nostrils far apart, the 

 posterior in front of the eye and the anterior at the extremity of the snout. Operculum 

 with a spine behind; no other armature on the head. Snout not swollen, but the upper jaw 



'PtmdiKHi of Scopoli (1777, page 454) is according to Gill, the equivalent ot i'(ernc(j8 of Gronovius. 



