16 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



head. Dorsal spines rather strong, curved, the fourth the longest, its length being 

 contained twice and one-third in that of the head. Mandible w'ith two points at the 

 chin. Coloration uniform. 



Several examples were obtained from " great depths " at Tokio, where the fish is not 

 rare. The largest example was 8 inches long. 



Synagrops. 

 Melanostoma,^ Doderlein, Denkscbr. d. k. Akad. d. Wiss. Wien, xlviii., 1883, p. 5. 



Shape of the body rather elongate. Upper side of the head with muciferous cavities. 

 Praeoperculum finely denticulated; operculum with two points. Two dorsal fins, the 

 first with nine slender spines, the second rather short. A narrow band of villiforin teeth 

 in the jaws, on the vomer and palatine bones, with the addition of a pair of canine teeth 

 in the upper jaw, and a scries of similar teeth in the lower. Scales large, thin, and 

 cycloid. Air-bladder present. Pyloric appendages in small number (six to seven). 

 Pharynx and peritoneal cavity black. 



Synagrops japonicus. 



Melanodoma japonicum, Doderlein, loc. ciL, Taf. i. fig. 2. 



B. 7, D. 9t^o, a. f, P. J5, V. ^, L. lat. 31 ( + 5 caudal). 



The height of the body is one-fourth, the length of the head nearly one-third of the 

 total (without caudal). Eye longer than the snout, contained thrice and two-thirds in 

 the length of the head. The mouth extends to below the middle of the eye, is rather 

 oblique, with somewhat projecting lower jaw. Uniform blackish. 



From " very great depths," and rare at Tokio ; Doderlein obtained one example only, 

 9 inches long. 



Family Scorp^NID.b. 



Scorpasna, Gthr. 



On the distinctive characters of this genus and Sebastes, see Glinther, Fisch. d. 

 Siidsee, p. 74. 



' Preoccupied. — I may observe here that the fish described by Steindachner in tlie same paper, under the name of 

 Oypielichthyt jaj)onic)is, n. gen. et sp. (p. 14, pi. vii. lig. 1), is a species of the genus Cabiceps, and does not belong to the 

 " Maenini," but to the family Nomeidae. 



