DISCUSSION OF SPECIES AND THEIR DISTKIBUTION. 293 



termaxillary alone, bears along its margin a series of small teeth, and inside of these is a 

 series wliicli is directed inward toward tlie moutli, whose palate on both sides is fnrnished 

 with numerous thin and feeble teeth, directed inward toward the mouth and aiTanged in 

 a cardiform baud; the vomer, on the contrary, is toothless. The teeth of the mandible are 

 variable iu size, some long, some short. The eye is of medium size, its diameter less than 

 its distance from the point of the snout. Many of the scales of the head — forehead and nuchsil 

 regions — and the upper ridge of the shoulder girdle show well-developed sculpturings. The 

 mucous pores of the head (pits and branches of tlie lateral line) are especially developed 

 on the forehead and temporal regions, behind the eyes, along the i)reoperculum, etc. On 

 many parts of the skin are seen sharply defined lines; series of closely placed pores — for 

 example, a series begins on the isthmus, close behind the angle formed by the gill opening, 

 and runs along the median line of the body until about the ventral fins, then Ijegins again 

 a little behind these and continutis to the vent, where it is divided into two branches, the 

 first curved up on the side and so backward, running along parallel to, but at some distance 

 fi'om the anal fin on each side for its whole length; finally there is a little posterior broader 

 portion in the middle line iu front of the caudal flu. Immediately behind the ventral fins 

 there is a short cross line of the same structure, and it is continued on each side at a right 

 angle along the innermost ventral ray. The lateral line consists of only a single series of 

 rather large pores, but the pore system of the above-named species is found besides 

 along the upper and under jaws; as for the upper jaw, however, only along its posterior 

 portion ; the maudibulary line of pores is divided into two parts. The ventral fins are 

 located immediately behind the pectorals, whose length is nearly ,3 times as great. The 

 short first dorsal fin begins immediately over the ventrals; the second, longer dorsal fiu 

 and the anal flu have an equal extent, and are separated somewhat widely from the caudal; 

 both are very low in their jwsterior half. 



Eadial fiumula: D. 8+22 ("?); A. ca. 22; P. 13; V. 6. 



PONERODON, Alcoek. 



Vonerodon, Alcock, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1890, ii, 203. 



Acanthopterygians, with body elongate, naked. Eyes lateral. Two separate dorsal 

 fins, of which the second is much the longer, and e(inal, ()])])osite, and similar to the anal; 

 ventrals thoracic; xjectoral rays branched. Cleft of mouth extremely wide; jaws disteusi- 

 ble and armed with canine teeth, as are also the palatines. Gill-openings very wide, the 

 gill-membranes united antericu'ly; preoperculum with a (snmll) spine at its angle; 7 branclii- 

 ostegals; i)seudobranchice. Lateral line single, uninterrupted. Abdominal cavity enor- 

 mous. No air-bladder. No pyloric caeca. No anal papilla. Vertebrse 14/24. 



This genus is represented by a single species {Puncrodon rastnfot^ Alcock, op. cH., 

 20.3, pi. IX, fig. 5), obtained by the Invetitiijator iu ISUO, at station 102, oh' the Madras coast, 

 at a depth of G'JO to 920 fathoms. 



Family URANOSCOPIDvE. 



UranoscopUlw, Gii.l, Proc. Acad. Nat. S('i. Phila., ISGl, in; Air. Fain. Fish., r> (No. 11). — Jordan and GlL- 

 BEiiT, P.nll. XVI, U. S. Nat. Mns., 6L«t. 



Uranoscojiiita, GCntiieu, Cat. Fish. P)rit. Mus., ii, 225. 



Body oblong, widest and usually deepest at the occiput. Scales adherent, small, 

 smooth, arranged in oblique series, sometimes wanting. Lateral line near dorsal outline, 

 feeble or obsolete. Head cuboid, partly mailed above. Eyes vertical, small and anterior, 

 on the top of the head. Mouth vertical, with strong and prominent mandible; lips more or 

 less consi)icuously fringed; teeth moderate, on the jaws, and usually on the \oiiicr and 

 palatines also; premaxillaries protractile; maxillary broad, without supi)lemeutal bone, not 

 slipping under the preorbital. (i ill-openings large; gill-membranes free from isthmus, 

 nearly separate. Ih-anchiostegals (i. Gills .J.i, a small sliMieliind tlie last. rseudobraiu-hiiB 

 present. No anal papilla. Dorsal fins 1 or 2, spinous part short, soft part eh)ngate; anal 



