REPORT ON THE DEEP-SEA FISHES. 119 



Intestine with two and a half convolutions. Air-bladder a simple, thin-walled sac. 

 Kidneys large, extending far forwards. Ovaries enclosed in a membranous sac. 



Mr. Murray^ observes : — " This Ophidiid had a large, rounded, fleshy head ; no trace 

 of an eye could be seen other than a small dark spot a considerable distance underneath 

 the skin. The fins were black, but the body of the fish was white ; with the exception 

 of one or two, all the scales had been rubbed off", and with them apparently a thin 

 black skin, so that probably the fish when first caught by the trawl was of a uniform 

 black colour ; the mouth and gill-chambers were black." 



Typhlonus nasus (PI. XXV. fig. A). 



Typhlonus nasus, Giintli., Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1878, voL ii. p. 21. 



The head of this most remarkable form is somewhat compressed, deep, as thick in the 

 rostral as in the opercular portion ; its length is rather more than one-fourth of the total. 

 Protuberances, formed by projecting portions of the cranium, occupy the upper and 

 lateral surfaces of the head ; and more especially one in front, and another on each side 

 of the snout are very conspicuous. 



The cavities between them are large, muciferous ; during life, when these cavities 

 are full, the whole head must be enveloped in mucus.' No apertures leading into them 

 are visible anywhere. The snout is thick, projecting far beyond the mouth, which is 

 rather small, horse-shoc-shaped and quite at the lower side of the head. A thin skin, 

 covered with very small scales, envelops the whole head. The nostrils are close 

 together situated on the lateral prominences of the snout. 



The depth of the body is not quite equal to the length of the head. The scales appear 

 to have been irregularly arranged, and no lateral line is visible. The dorsal fin commences 

 above the root of the pectoral, and is composed of numerous feeble and rather short rays ; 

 it passes without interruption into the caudal and anal. The distance of the vent from 

 the root of the ventral is only half the length of the head. 



Pectoral rounded, composed of twenty-six feeble rays, reaching beyond the vent ; 

 ventral filaments beyond the extremity of the pectoral. 



Light brownish, with black fins. 



iyatitot— North-east of Australia, Station 181 ; depth, 2440 fathoms. One 

 specimen, 10 inches long. 



North of Celebes, Station 198 ; depth, 2150 fathoms. One specimen, 10 inches long. 



1 Narr. Chall. Exp., vol. i. p. 520. 



2 The external configuration of the head during life is evidently very different from the appearance which it 

 presents in specimens preserved in strong spirits. After the specimen had been submerged in diluted alcohol for the 

 purposes of dissection, the mucus still remaining in the cavities swelled into a gelatinous mass, distendmg the 

 membranes, so that the contours of the head appeared rounded. 



