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



the upper jaw closing in front of the lower ; a similar pair of still longer teeth in the 

 lower jaw received in grooves of the palate. On the sides of each jaw two long teeth 

 terminating in bulbous tips ; a row of minute teeth on the posterior half of the 

 maxillaries. Palate toothless. 



Caulolepis longidens. 



Caulolepis lungidens, Gill, loc. cit. 



D. 3^. A. |. Eyes small, black. 



Habitat. — A single specimen of this interesting form (size not stated) was obtained 

 by the U.S. steamer " Albatross," in the Atlantic; lat. 39° 27' N., long. 69° 56' W. ; 

 depth, 1346 fathoms. 



Melamphaes. 



Meiopias, Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1843, p. 90. 

 Melamphaes, Giinth., Cat. Fish., v. p. 433. 



Head large and thick, with nearly all the superficial bones modified into wide 

 muciferous channels. Cleft of the mouth of moderate width, oliliquely descending 

 backwards, with the jaws nearly equal in front. A narrow band of villiform teeth in 

 both the jaws ; palate toothless. Eight branchiostegals ; pscudobranchiai present ; no 

 barbels ; opercles not armed. Scales large, cycloid, rather irregularly arranged. One 

 dorsal ; caudal forked ; anal spines very feeble ; ventrals with seven rays. 



The formation of the head, the black colour of the body, together with the circumstances 

 attending the capture of the three specimens first known, clearly indicate that the fishes 

 of this genus are inhabitants of the depths of the ocean. Lowe's two specimens were 

 picked up at the surface, near Madeira, evidently in an exhausted condition ; whilst the 

 specimen described by Liitken was found in the stomach of a dolphin. The discoveries 

 by the Cliallenger, and by the United States S.S. "Albatross," have proved the 

 surmise ' of the bathybial nature of these fishes to be correct. 



The following is a list of all the species known : — 



Melamphaes microps. 



Scopelus microps, Giinth., Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1878, vol. ii. p. 18G. 



B. 8. D. A- A. I P. 14. V. |. L. lat. 35. 



The height of the body is one-fourth of the total length (without caudal), tlie length 

 of the head one-third ; eye one-seventh of the length of the head, and rather more 



■ Giintber, loc. cit. 



