138 DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



II. Vomerine tcetli iiniserial, some of them canine-like; ninxillary teotli biserial. 

 A. Dorsal beginning above root of pectoral. 



1. Cleft of mouth extending beyond middle of eye. 



a. Tail very long and slender Uroconger 



III. Vomerine teeth absent. 



A. Tail very short. 



1. Teeth in a single nnbroken row in each jaw Coloconger 



B. Tail as long as the trunk. 



1. Teeth, villiform in broad bauds in the jaws and in a broad continuous i)atch on the palate. 



Promyllantor 



UROCONGER, Kaup. 



Uroconger, Kaup, Apodes, 110. — Glnther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., viii, 43. — Jordan & Davis, Rep. U. S. F. 

 C, 1888 (1891), 658. 



Anguilloid apodals with long, whip-like tail and without scales. Maxillary teeth bi- 

 serial; vomerine teeth uniserial, some of them canine-lilie; dorsal fin inserted above the 

 pectoral origin ; mouth-cleft passing beliind the middle of the orbit. 



The unique species until 1888 was Uroconger lepturus (Richardson), Kaup, from the west- 

 ern and southern Pacific. 



UROCONGER VICINUS, Vaillant. 



Uroconger vicimis, Vaillant, Exp. Sci.,Travailleur ct Talisman, Poissons, 1888, 86, pi. vi, figs. 1, la, 15. 



A species distingiiislied from U. lepturus by a more compressed, higher body and 

 tail, the thickness one-fiftieth, the height one-twentieth of total; by the presence of two 

 strong teeth, one behind the other, on the anterior portions of the vomer, and by a. space 

 separating the gill openings which is considerably greater than the diameter of these 

 openings. 



U. vicinus, the sole representative of this genus in the Atlantic, was obtained by the 

 French exijlorers from the Banc d'Ai-guin, 1,495 meters; ofl' Soudan, 932 meters, and at the 

 Cape Verde Islands, in 633 meters depth ; three from the first locality, one from each of the 

 others. 



A young fish, provisionally placed in this species, was taken by the Albatross at station 

 2161, in 146 fathoms, (Figure 160.) 



C0NGERMUR^«:NA, Kaup. 



Ophisomn, SwAiNSON, Nat. Hist. Classn. Fish., ii, 1839, 334 (in part).— Jordan & Davis, Rep. U. S. F. C, 



1888 (1891), 659. 

 Congermuratna, Kaup, Cat. Apodal Fishes, 1858, 108. 

 Congermrcfna, GuNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., viii, 1870, 200. 

 Gnathophis, Kaup, Aale Hamburg. Museum, 1859. 



Anguilloid apodals characterized by a scaleless body, small mouth, large muciferous 

 cavities in the anterior porti(ms of the skull, teeth in jaws and on vomer small, those in 

 the outer row not forming a cutting edge, arranged in bands, dorsal origin above the gill 

 openings, mouth terminatuig below or in advance of the middle of the orbit. Lips thick. 

 A long, whip-like tail. 



Gongermurwna occurs in the Mediterranean and on both sides of the middle Atlantic, 

 and in the deep water of the Pacific. G. f/Httiihitd, Oiinther (Challenger Report, xxir, 252), 

 was obtained by the Challenger off the Fijis in ;U5 iatlioms. C. longicauila, Alcock was 

 taken in the Andaman Sea, in 265 fathoms, and G. prorigerum (Gilbert) from off' California, 

 401 fathoms. 



CONGERMUR^NA FLAVA, Goode and Bean, n. s. (Figure 159.) 



Lips somewhat thickened. Snout long, about twice diameter of eye, wlii(;h is contained 

 six times in Icngtii of head. Lower jaw projecting far beyond the upper. Anterior nostril 

 in short tube, posterior nostril pore-like, in advance of eye, and above the horizontal line 

 of its diameter. Cleft of mouth extending very slightly behind middle of eye. Teeth iu 



