72 



a diameter apart, and as they are tumid, they interfere 

 slightly with the arch of the profile. Viewed from above, 

 the fish seems to be composed of the sections of two cones 

 joined by their bases ; the head being a shorter and wider 

 one, with a truncated apex, and the body more slender and 

 tapering acutely into the caudal fin. At the point of the 

 gill-cover the height is one-fifth of the total length, and the 

 width is rather less than twice the height, or it is contained 

 twice and two-thirds in the total length, caudal included. 

 The sliin is quite smooth and scaleless, but when examined 

 by a lens, it exhibits a minutely reticulated surface. There 

 are a few scattered pores on the snout and temples. The 

 nostrils are two small orifices with tumid lips, which swell 

 into a little flap on one side of the anterior opening; the 

 posterior aperture is contiguous to the eye. There are no 

 furrows on the head. The orifice of the mouth is small, and 

 placed beneath and slightly behind the extreme end of the 

 snout; it is not cleft quite so far back as the fore part of 

 the eye. The jaws are armed by truncated incisor teeth, 

 four or five deep in front, but thinning off" to a single row 

 towards the angle of the mouth ; the exterior ones are 

 taller, and are ranged in an even, pectinated series, as re- 

 presented in figures 4 and 5. Figure 6 shows the teeth of 

 the lower jaw, in which the interior ones are more con- 

 spicuous than in the upper jaw. The suboperculum ends 

 in an acute, spinous point, which is enveloped in soft inte- 

 gument. The form of the operculum does not show 

 through the soft parts, and it has no prominent bony cor- 

 ners, but its soft membranous ti]> forms a kind of lid to the 

 gill-opening, which is restricted below by an inward turn of 

 the gill-membrane. 



The sucking apparatus is divided into two concave disks 

 by a deep, transverse depression. Tlie anterior or pectoral 

 disk is wider, has a semilunate shape, and is completed on 

 the sides by four enlarged rays of the pectoral. The rest 

 of the pectoral has a rounded outline, with fine rays, and 

 the usual position of that fin. On the base of the fin, in 

 the angle between its vertical and horizontal parts, there is 

 a prominent and somewhat loose fleshy lobe. The pos- 

 terior or ventral disk is transversely oval, and is saiTounded 

 by a membranous border, which is free throughout, and 

 anteriorly overlies and conceals the depression behind the 

 pectoral disk. No rays can be delected in this border, but 

 its posterior half is furnished with a single row of flat emi- 

 nences such as stud the surface of both disks. The ven- 

 trals are small, and a])plied to the sides behind the 

 pectorals. Their i-ays are so fine that they can scarcely be 

 perceived with the aid of a lens, through the thick 

 membrane. The dorsal commences behind the anus, and 

 its last ray is bound to the back by membrane through- 

 out its length, but is not joined to the caudal. The 

 anal is smaller, and reaches a little further back, but 

 neither is it joined to the caudal. The front ray of both 

 these fins is very slender and cannot be seen by the naked 

 eye. The caudal is enlarged at the base by a narrow 

 membranous edge, which embraces the end of the tail, and 

 approaches close to the dorsal and anal. Three short 

 rays in tliis membrane above, and as many below, are as 

 fine as hairs. The anus is as nearly as possible in the mid- 

 dle of the total length, and behind it there is a small 



genital papilla on the verge of another opening. The co- 

 lour of the specimen, after long maceration in spirits, is a 

 pure red, very pale on some parts, and more intense 

 in others. There is a mottling of darker red patches on 

 the back, but it -is not easy to determine whether it be 

 caused by original markings, or be merely the remains of 

 the general tint which has faded less on those spots. The 

 eye is a bright carmine. Length 2j inches. 



Hab. New Zealand, where it was detected by Dr. 

 Hooker. 



Mach^eidm subducens. Richardson. 



Radii :— B. 6 ; D. 72 ; A. 60 ; C. 9 ; P. 10 ; V. 0. 



Marh<Brium sui(iuce»s,Richardson, Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist, for 

 September, 1843, xii. p. 175, pi. 6. 



Plate XLIV., figs. 1 — 4, natural size ; 5, 6, magnified. 



This fish was originally described from a dried specimen 

 in the work above quoted, and the figure being indiff'erent, 

 another is now given of a specimen which has been kept in 

 spirits, and has lost much of its original colour. We shall 

 transcribe the general characters of the fish as recorded in 

 that work, making such slight alterations and additions as 

 we are enabled to do fiom the more perfect state of the 

 specimens now before us. 



Ch. Gen. Piscis malacopterygius, apodus, ensiformis, 

 squamosus. Caput antice compressum. Os modice exten- 

 sivum. Labia amjyla, tumida. Denies parvi, uiiiser tales, 

 pectinati, incisores in acuta acie intermaxillarinm max- 

 illceque inferior is ordinati. Denies pJiarync/ei acerosi, 

 stipaii. Apertura hranchialis satis magna. Radii hran- 

 chiosiegee ieretes memhranam largiusculam siisicntanies. 

 Gena et regiones suprascapulares sqnamosce. Pinna ver- 

 iicales coaliiie, spinis nullis. Pinna dorsi per maximam 

 dorsi partem regnans. Anus ante medium piscem. Linea 

 lateralis brevis ante anum desinens. Squama cycloidem 

 parvte. 



Form elongated and compressed, like that of a Gunnel- 

 lus or Ophidium, and similar to a straight sword or 

 butcher's knife, whence its generic appellation. The height 

 of the body is one-tenth of the total length, and its thick- 

 ness one-fifteenth. The compression is much greater be- 

 hind the anus, and augments up to the tip of the tail, which 

 is not acute. The head, which forms a seventh of the total 

 length, is also compressed, especially before the eyes, the 

 snout being acute when viewed from above but the swell- 

 ing of the lips renders it less sharp than it would otherwise 

 be. The cranium is rounded and smooth traversely, but 

 appears straight and horizontal in profile up to the eye, 

 and a little concave in front of it. The eye, moderately 

 large, is near the profile, and is one diameter of the orbit 

 nearer to the tip of the snout than to the posterior edge of 

 the gill-opening. The nostrils lie immediately before it, 

 the hinder opening being larger than the anterior one. The 

 cleft of the mouth descends obliquely as it runs backwards, 

 and does not reach to the fore edge of the orbit. The in- 

 termaxillaries and lower jaw having their edges, which are 



