58 THE PLAGIOSTOMIA. 



Xebrodes macrurus, sp. nov. 

 Plate 8, fig. 7-10. 



Body moderately slender, tapering backward from the shoulders. Head 

 depressed; snout short, blunt. Nostrils near the end of the snout, anterior 

 nasal valve with a long cylindrical cirrus, posterior valve a fold on the side of 

 the nasoral groove. Mouth moderate, nearly transverse, nearer to end of snout 

 than to eye, with strongly developed labial folds that are widely separated across 

 the symphyseal space; jaws much arched forward; teeth in about |g rows, one 

 transverse series in function, much compressed, each with a low median cusp 

 at each side of which there are 4 or more smaller ones gradually decreasing in 

 size toward the outer. The one series in function with the continuous edge of 

 sharp cusps in some measure recalls what obtains on the jaws of Heptranchias 

 and suggests an intermediary position between its dentition and that of such a 

 form as Catulus or others with compressed pluricuspids. Eye small, open- 

 ing elongate, length about 5 the width of the mouth. Spiracle small, minute, 

 behind the eye, distant one ocular diameter. Gill apertures as wide as the 

 space between the labial folds on the middle of the mouth; fourth and fifth 

 much narrower and closer together, above the pectoral. Fin angles blunt, 

 inner more rounded, hinder edges more or less sinuous. First dorsal somewhat 

 larger than the second, base entirely in front of total mid length, about as long 

 as high, base distant near lj times its length from that of the second, originating 

 little forward of the middle of the base of the ventral. Second dorsal smaller 

 than first, origin forward of that of the anal. Anal more oblique, more pointed, 

 longer in base and extending farther backward than second dorsal. Caudal 

 long, near 3 of the total; subcaudal portion deep anteriorly, with a slight lobe, 

 tapering gradually backward. Pectorals wide, length § of the width, slightly 

 falcate. Ventrals near the size of the first dorsal, one and one half times as 

 long as broad. 



Scales small, resembling those of particular Centrophori, rather smooth to 

 the touch, bearing a low median keel with or without smaller lateral keels, 

 larger scales intermixed with the smaller, hinder edges not crenulate. 



Rusty brownish, with a sprinkled appearance, from the larger whiter scales. 



Distinguished from N. concolor Riipp. among other features by less differ- 

 ence in the sizes of the dorsals, by the smaller size of the first dorsal and its 

 greater distance from the second, by the larger anal, and by the longer cirrus. 



Type No. 820, M. C. Z., Port Louis Harbour, Mauritius; a male of 3li 

 inches, body cavity 15 in. 



