DISCUSSION OP SPECIES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 57 



the hyoid bone. Jaws nearly equal. Eye rather large, anterior. Supraorbital forming a 

 projection above the eye. Pseudobrancliiiie well developed. Gill rakers very small, spine- 

 like. Gill membranes slightly connected. Top of head naked. Cheeks and opercles scaled 

 like the body. Body covered with rather small, adherent, cycloid scales. Lateral line pres- 

 ent. No i)hosphorescent spots. Dorsal fin short, rather anterior. Pectorals moderate, 

 inserted high. Ventrals anterior, not far behind pectorals, large, the inner rays longer 

 than the outer. Anal short. Caudal narrow, forked. Branchiostegals 12 to 16. Stomach 

 with a long, blind sac and many pyloric cieca. {Jordan.) 



The genus has the appearance of being well suited for deep-water life, and its near allies 

 are some of the most characteristic of the bathybial forms. 



SYNODUS SAURUS (Linn^us.). 



SaJmo sauriis, LiNNiEWS, Syst. Nat., eil. x, 1758, i, 310. 



.Saunis ndiinis, CuviKR, Ri-gne Animal, 1st ed. II, 1817, 169; 2d ed. 1829, ii, 313. 



Sanriis laccrtu, Cuvikk and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xxii, 463. 



Synodus lacerta, Goode, Fishes of the Bermudas, 68. 



Saurtis griseus, Lowe, Trans. Zool. Soc. Loudon, ii, 188.— Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., v, 395. 



Sauriis irimrgatm, Vai.encienne.s, Poiss., Isles Canaries, 72, pi. xv, fig. 1 (good). 



Length of head 4 in total, snout broader than long, pointed, with jaws equal anteriorly, 

 or with the upper jaw slightly projecting. Dorsal slightly higher than the length of its rear 

 base. Pectorals extend to ninth or tenth scale of lateral line. Scales upon the tail .slightly 

 carinate. Color dusky gray above, yellow below. D. 11-12; A. 11-12. Scales 3^ | .j8-62 | «. 



This form, the type of the genus Satirus, C. and V., is closely allied to ^'■Esox synodus,'''' 

 Linn., the type of Synodus, Schn., which is quite as likely to have been the common Ameri- 

 can Synodus f(rtens as any other form. 



This form, rare in the Mediterranean, occurs also about St. Vincent, Madeira, and the 

 Canaries, and has been taken by the authors at Bermuda, where it is known as the "Snake 

 Fish." It occurs at moderate depths about Bermuda, but probably below the hundred- 

 fathom line. No observations have been made in regard to its bathic range. S. l-aiunus, 

 Giinthor, occurs about the Ki Islands at 110 fathoms; and Giinther is of the opinion that S. 

 atlan ticus, John.son, aMadeiran form, and S. intermedins, Spix, from tropical American waters, 

 also range into "deep water. Others are likely to do so. So is S(iurid((, an Indo-Pacific 

 genus. 



BATHYLACO, Goode and Bean, n. g. 



Body subcyhndrical, rather elongate, stout, similar in form to Synodns. (Scales are 

 absent in the specimen studied, and it is not even possible to determine wliether or not this 

 is a naked species.) Head conical. Snout short. Mouth very large, wide, oblique, lower 

 jaw slightly projecting. Maxillary narrow and long, with small teeth, which are somewhat 

 biserial in front, and uniserial behind; interrupted at the synipliysis. Mandible with a 

 narrow band of similar teeth. Palatine teeth in a narrowband; tongue toothless. Eye 

 moderately large, very far forward, its upper edge close to the dorsal profile. Pectoral 

 small, placed low. Ventral nearly median, a little in advance of the dorsal and far beliiud 

 the pectoral, with 8 rays. Dorsal origin nearly iu the middle of the length and extending 

 to above the middle of the anal. Adipose fln probably absent. The anal origin far back, 

 fin short. Gill opening very wide, as in Batliysaurus. the left mendjrane overlapping the 

 right, not attached to the isthmus. Branchiostegals numerous. Gill rakers short and few. 

 Opercidar bones very thin and feeble. 



BATHYLACO NIGRICANS, Goode and Bean, n. s. (Figure 69.) 



The length of the head one-fourth of total (without caudal); its depth one-half its 

 length. Snout scarcely more than one-half the diameter of the eye, and contained about 8 

 times in the length of the head. The lower jaw the longer. The eye is contained 4^ times 

 in the length of the head, its diameter equal to the width of the interorbital space. The 

 intermaxillary is nearly two thirds the length of the head. Tlie mandible is contained 3 



