BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. ] 39 



behind the premaxillary so as to form a strong, compressed, 

 odontoid process. Nostrils lateral, widely separated, the anterior 

 pair smaller than the posterior, surrounded by a skinny, vesicular 

 lip. Eyes small and lateral, completely covered by similar skin. 

 Opercles covered by a continuous skin; opercle with two strong 

 spines, the upper of which pierces the skin. Gill-openings of 

 modei'ate width, extending forwards to below the posterior border 

 of thepreopercle; isthmus wide; seven branchiostegals; nopseudo- 

 branchiie, gill-rakers reduced to small, serrulate tubercles. Upper 

 jaw with a band of villiform teeth and a single small, curved, 

 canine-like tooth on each side of the symphysis; lower jaw with 

 a narrow band of villiform teeth anteriorly, the inner series much 

 enlarged and continued backwards along the sides in the form of 

 a I'ow of widely separated, curved, canine-like teeth; vomer with 

 an angular series of small, acute, conical teeth, the posterior tooth 

 on each side greatly enlarged; palatine teeth in a triangular 

 patch anteriorly, small and conical, with a single central and 

 thi'ee posterior basal enlarged ones; pterygoids and tongue smooth. 

 Anterior dorsal fin represented by a single spinous tubercle which 

 does not pierce the skin; dorsal and anal fins low, separated from 

 the caudal by a distinct interspace: ventral fins close together, 

 inserted behind the isthmus, reduced to a slender filament, which 

 is composed of two intimately connected rays: pectorals modera- 

 tely developed, pointed, composed of twenty slender branched 

 rays: tail diphy cereal, the caudal fin narrow and pointed. Scales 

 small, deeply embedded, widely separated; head, except the snout, 

 with scattered scales; vertical fins for the most part covered with 

 skin, which is scaly like the body. A series ot large pores along 

 the outer border of the snout and preorbital, and a pair of similar 

 pores at the angle of the preopercle; lateral line inconspicuous. 



Etymology : — 8epfj.a, skin; o\j/ls, eye. 



Distribution: — Coast of New South Wales. 



Apparently the dorsal tubercle represents the rudiments of a 

 first dorsal fin, and its presence would, therefore, necessitate the 

 removal of the genus from the Brotulidce to the Gadidce, a course 



