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



eye ; patch of vomerine teeth broadly V-shaped, with a cii-cular bunch at the angle. 

 Scales of moderate size, seven rows between the origin of the dorsal fin and the lateral 

 line. Leno-th of the pectoral fin equal to two-thii-ds of that of the head ; ventral 

 reachino- nearly to the vent. The distance of the root of the ventral from the vent 

 equals the length of the head. Coloration a light yellowish, with a series of irregular 

 brown blotches above the lateral line, two being much darker, extending up on the 

 dorsal fin, the largest about midway between head and tail. 



Habitat. — A single specimen, Z\ inches long, was obtained by the U.S. Fish 

 Commission, in lat. 28° 36' N., and long. 85° 33' W., at a depth of 111 fathoms. 



Catsetyx, n. gen. 



Body compressed, elongate, covered with very small and thin scales ; lateral line 

 indistinct, interrupted. Head oblong, wdth somewhat pointed snout, covered with very 

 small scales, only the anterior part of the snout naked ; bones of the head rather firm, 

 but with the mucifcrous system well developed, the canals having wide openings along 

 the infraorbital, and on the lower limb of the prseoperculum. Eye rather small. 

 Nostrils far apart, the posterior in front of the eye and the anterior at the extremity of 

 the snout. Operculum with a spine behind, no other armature on the head. Snout not 

 swollen, but the upper jaw slightly overlapping the lower ; barbels none. Mouth wide. 

 Bands of villiform teeth in the jaws, on the vomer and the palatine bones ; a series of 

 larger teeth along the sides of the lower jaw\ The tail is not much attenuated. 

 Vertical fins confluent ; ventrals close together, reduced to a pair of fine simple filaments, 

 and inserted somewhat behind the isthmus, below the middle of the operculum. 



Gills four, with short broad gill-rakers and well-developed laminae. Pseudobranchiss 

 none. Branchiostegals eight. Pyloric appendages. 



Catsetyx messieri (PI. XXIII. fig. B). 



Siremho messieri, Giinth., Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1878, vol. ii. p. 19. 

 D. 105. C. 12. A. 75. P. 24. 



The height of the body below the origin of the dorsal fin is rather more than one- 

 third of the distance of the extremity of the snout from the vent, the length of the head 

 rather less than one-half, the vent being nearly equidistant from the snout and root of 

 the caudal fin. Head deeper than broad. Eye without orbital fold, one-sixth of the 

 Icnsth of the head, two-thirds of that of the snout and less than the width of the fiat 

 interorbital space. The maxillary is dilated behind, extending behind the eye ; labial 

 folds well developed. The vomerine teeth form an open V-shaped band and are stronger 

 than those of the maxillary. The vertical fins are completely confluent, but as the 



