FAMILY, II— SCOPELID^. 507 



These fishes have a row of luminous spots along the lower poi'tion of the body, sometimes they are also 

 present on the head, snout and back of tail, whilst a few may exist on the sides. 

 Geographical distribution. — Temperate and tropical seas. 



SYNOPSIS OF INDIVIDUAL SPECIES. 



1. Scopelus Indicus, D. 10/0, A. 18, L. I. 43, L. tr. 3j/5. No supraorbital spine. Scales smooth. India. 



1. Scopelus Indicus, Plate CXVIII, fig. 2. 

 D. 10/0, P. 14, V. 8, A. 18, L. 1. 43, L. tr. 31/5. 



Length of head 5, of caudal 6j, height of body 4|- in the total length. Eyes — diameter 2j in the length 

 of head, 1/4 of a diameter from the end of snout, and also apart. No spine above the orbit. Cleft of mouth 

 reaches almost to the preopercular angle. Fins — the dorsal is situated midway between the base of the caudal 

 fin and the front edge of the eye, it is not quite so high as the body below it. Pectoral reaches the middle of 

 the ventral, whilst the ventral nearly extends to the anal. Caudal slightly forked. Scales — smooth, the row 

 beneath the lateral-line is much larger than the others. Colours — of a deep metallic blue in the upper portion 

 of the body, becoming lighter on the sides and beneath. A line of round golden spots along the lower edge 

 of the abdomen, and a few larger ones scattered over the sides. 



In general appearance this species much resembles Scopelus spinosws, Steind. Sitz. Akad. Wiss. 1867, 

 jj. 11, t. iii, f. 4, but its scales are entirely smooth. 



Habitat. — A single specimen, now in a bad state, was collected by Sir Walter Elliot at Vizagapatam. 

 It would belong to sub-genus Myctojjhum. 



3 T 2 



