1904.] XATUKAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 767 



eye 5^; maxillary 1§; interorbital space 3^; pectoral U. Gill-rakers 



1 + 7 on first arch. Lobe of soft dorsal deep brown. Length 15 inches. 

 San Domingo, West Indies. Prof. W. M. Gabb. Also a smaller 

 example w-ith same data. 



The three examples recorded from St. Martins, West Indies, are also 

 identical. They have depth 4 to 4^, D. XV (one XVI), and rakers 



2 + 6 (one 7), more or less rudimentary. 



LEMNISOMID^ fam. nom. nov.'s 



LEMNISOMIX.E subfam. nom. nov. 



LEMNISOMA Lesson. 



Voy. Aut. Mond. Coquille. ZooL. July 25, 1827, p. 160 (thyraitoides). 

 Gempylus Cuvier, Regne Animal, II, Ed. II, 1829, p. 200 (serpens). 



Lemnisoma serpens (Cuvier). Plate LI, upper figure. 



Gempylus serpens Cuvier, I. c. (Based on Serpens marinus, etc. Sloane 

 Voy. Jam., I, 1707, p. 26, PI 1, fig. 2. About the Tropick of Cancer.) 



Gempylus ophidianus Poev, Mem. Hist. Nat. Cuba, II, 1856-58 (1861) 

 p. 246, PI. 18, fig. 1 (head). Cuba. 



Head (damaged) about 5; depth about 17; D. XXXII, in, 10, 6; A. 

 I. II, 9, 7; P. II, 12; V. I, 4; width of head about o\ in its length; 

 depth of head about 3^; mandible about If; pectoral about 2^; lower 

 caudal lobe (damaged) about If; snout about ly^^ in head, measured 

 from tip of upper jaw; eye about of; maxillary about 1|; interorbital 

 space about 7 (damaged); least depth of caudal peduncle about 8; 

 seventh dorsal spine about 4|. 



Body very elongate, strongly compressed, and trunk of nearly uni- 

 form depth. Caudal peduncle compressed, its least depth about 4 its 

 length, measured from base of last lower finlet. 



Head compressed, attenuate, and profiles of both jaws nearly 

 straight, upper a little concave above nostrils. Snout long, conic, and 

 pointed. Eye apparently circular, high, close to upper profile, and 

 its anterior margin a little posterior in middle of length of head. 

 Mouth large, not completely closing, and large mandible with a rather 

 large hard, conic, fleshy point produced well beyond in front, tip of 

 upper jaw fitting in lower anteriorly. ^laxillary reaching a little be- 

 yond front rim of orbit, slipping below thin edge of preorbital 

 for good portion of its length, and its distal expanded extremity 

 about equal to infraorbital space. Teeth ji ~"^~ ^'! . compressed, 

 uniserial, broad, sharp pointed, and three mediardy in front of 

 upper jaw enlarged and posteriorly along edges barbed. A series of 

 small irregular teeth on palatines, none on vomer. Tongue long 



2^ Lemnisoma Lesson has priority over Gempylus Cuvier if identical, thus the 

 above changes. Their generic status, however, needs investigation. It may 

 also be noted that Gempylince Jordan and Evermann must give place to Lemni- 

 fominoe. 



