206 DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



7, very .small, ami present only in the angles, while in the fourth there are about tlie same 

 number, very inconspicuous. 



The dorsal fin originates above the middle of the operculum, and at a distance from the 

 snout eijual to twice the length of the snout. 



The anal lin is composed of about 100 spines and rays. Owing to the mutilation of tlie 

 specimen it is impossible to determine how many there are of each, Itut there arc supposed 

 to be about 2S rays, normally united by a nu>mbrane into a tin. 



The caudal is also imperfect, but tlie middle rays are seen to be; about lialf as long as 

 the remnants of the external rays. The tin is supjiosed to resemble in shape tliat of Lej)i- 

 dopus cau'lafun. 



The pectoral oi'iginates under the tip of the opercular flap. Its outline is rounded 

 above instead of emarginate, as in Lepidopus eaudatun. Its longest ray eiiuals in length 

 the postorbital ]iart of the head. 



The ventrals originate at a distance from the snout equal to tliat of the base of the 

 pectorals from tlic same ]3oint. They are rudimentary and represented by minute scutes, 

 the lengtli of wliich is 3i millimeters in the specimen before us, and about eijual to half the 

 interorbital width. 



Radial fornuila: D. 154: A. 100; i\ 12; V. i. 



Ctecal appendages 8, in the specimen examined. Some, however, may have been lost, 

 the abdominal viscera having been partly digested by the halibut in the stomach of which 

 it was found. 



Color, uniform silvery, with traces of dark color upon head and tail. 



The type of this description, a remarkable fish, taken from the stomach of a halibut 

 caught on the western edge of the Grand Bank of Newfoundland in 80 fathoms, was received 

 in 18S7 from Capt. Roderick Morrison, of the Gloucester tishing .schooner Laura Xelson. 



Extreme length of type (No. 29116), 896 millimeters (35J inches.) 



A specimen was taken by the Albatross at station 2362, at a depth of 25 fathoms, and 

 another by the Bhde at station vii, oft' St. Kitts, in 208 fathoms. 



B. elongatus was first obtained by Mr. Clarke, who thus describes its cauture : 



(Q) ~~^ 



BENTHODESMUS ELONGATl'S. 



Collected by self, Hokitika beach, October 12, 1874, and the only perfect specimen of 

 some eight or ten which have come under my observation. All were in the same ])roportioii 

 as the one above described, and varied but little in size, but were generally much mutilated 

 by attrition ou the sand and shingly beach. 



Besides the type of the genus, Benthodesmusclonfjatns, Clarke, known from New Zealand, 

 there is a Japanese species Benthodcsmus tenuis, (Giinther), from Inosoma, Jajnin,' taken by 

 the Challenger in 345 fathoms, at station 232. 



APHANOPUS, Lowe. 



Aphanopus, Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc, London, 1839, 79. (Type, A. carlo, from Madeira . — G( nther, Cut. 

 Fish. Brit. Mns., ii, 1860, p. 342; Challenger Report, xxii, 1887, 36. 



Body very elongate, band-like, scaleless; head long, pointed; cleft of tlic mouth very 

 wide, jaws armed with strong, lanceolate teeth arranged in single series and in common 



' T-epUlopii.H ti'Hiiis, (ii'NTnER, Annals Magazine of Natural History, London, xx, 1877, 437; Challenger 

 Report, XXIX, 1887, 37, pi. vil, fig. B. (Type 21 inches long, from luosoma, Japan.) 



