226 THE PLAGIOSTOMIA. 



Teeth §g; each upper tooth with a central cusp and a pair of shorter lateral 

 cusps; cutting edges of lower teeth nearly horizontal. Orbit longer than its 

 distance from the end of the snout. Pectoral short, not reaching the dorsal 

 spine, subtruncate. First dorsal smaller than the second; spine midway from 

 end of snout to supracaudal, two thirds as long as that of the second dorsal; 

 origin slightly behind the ends of the pectorals. Interdorsal space about equal 

 the distance from second dorsal to supracaudal, about three times the length 

 of the base of the first dorsal without the spine, or a little less than the distance 

 from the axils of the ventrals to the subcaudal, which last distance is nearly two 

 thirds of that from the bases of the pectorals to those of the ventrals. Skin 

 closely set with small placoid scales arranged in longitudinal series on back and 

 tail, each scale bearing a slender spine. Fins naked, except on basal portions. 



Brown; blackish below; hind borders of fins lighter to white. 



Type nearly 6.7 inches in length (170 mm.), taken off the south coast of 

 Molokai, at a depth between 222 and 498 fathoms. 



ETMOPTERUS LUCIFER. 



Etmoplerus lucifcr Jordan & Snyder, 1902, Proc. U. S. nat. mus., 26, p. 79; Jord. & Fowler, 1903, 

 Proc. U. S. nat. mus., 26, p. 634, f. 5; Smith & Radcliffe, 1912, Proc. U. S. nat. mus., 41, p. 679; 

 Tanaka, 1912, Fishes ,,f Japan, 8, p. 133, pi. 36. 



Spinax'jucifer Regan, 1908, Ann. mag. nat. hist., ser. 8, 2, p. 45. 



Head less than one fifth of the total length, tapering slightly from the 

 spiracles forward. Snout produced, deep, broad to the nostrils, thence blunt- 

 pointed, rounded at the end ; nostrils half way from the end to the eye, anterior 

 valve acuminate at the outer edge. Eye large, length of orbit one and one 

 fourth times its distance from the end of the snout, about twice its distance from 

 the nostrils, more than twice its distance from the spiracles. Mouth little 

 arched, width equal two thirds of the preoral length, with a short deep groove 

 and short equal labial folds at each angle. Teeth n', upper with a strong and 

 much longer median cusp at each side of the base of which is a pair of short cusps 

 the outer of which is very small; lower cutting edge nearly horizontal and 

 straight. Gill openings, hardly as wide as the spiracles, hindmost widest, in 

 front of the pectorals. Pectorals short, broad, not reaching the origin of the first 

 dorsal, subtruncate, inner angle broadly rounded. Origin of dorsal nearly mid- 

 way from end of snout to second dorsal ; spine about half as long as that of the 

 second dorsal, rather slender; base without the spine three fourths of that of the 

 second, hardly one sixth of the interdorsal space; fin short, hind angle slightly 

 produced. Spine of second dorsal twice as long as that of the first; base of fin 



