2292 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



likewise prolonged, the tliird pair the longest; palatines with a longer, 

 fixed tooth in front. Eye moderate, above the anterior part of maxillary, 

 4^ in head, shorter than snout, as wide as interorbital space. Lateral 

 line in a longitudinal groove. First dorsal of slender rays, its base 2^ in 

 ill that of second dorsal; anal commencing behind second dorsal, its ante- 

 rior rays without connection with vertebral column; posterior rays of 

 anal and doisal very feeble; jiectoral as long as head without snout; ven- 

 tral i as long as pectoral. Color eutirely black. Length 12 inches. 

 (Gitnther.) Deep waters of the Atlantic; a remarkable fish, the walls of 

 the body inordinately extensible; taken at Madeira, in the mid- Atlantic, 

 near the island of Dominica, and oft' the coast of Massachusetts.* {niger, 

 black.) 



Chiasmodon niger, Johnson, Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1863, 408, Madeira; Jordan & Gil- 

 bert, Synopsis, 964 ; GooDE & Bean, Oceanic Icbtliyology, 292, 1896. 



Chiatmodus niger, GiJNTHER, Cat., v,435, 1864; Caetee, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1866, 38; GOnther, 

 Challenger Eeport, Deep Sea Fishes, xxu, 99, 1887. 



848. PSEUDOSCOPELUS, Liitken. 



Pseudogcopehis, Lutken, Spolia Atlantica, Seopelini, 64, 1892 {scriptus) . 



Body perciform, scaleless, naked; mouth very large; eyes moderate; 

 the slender maxillary reaching far beyond eye; jaws and palate with 

 slender, close-set teeth; ventral fins short, su^thoracic, of 1 spine and 5 

 rays; first dorsal short, of about 8 slender spines; posterior dorsal long, 

 similar to the anal. Each jaw with a distinct line of pores, a median line 

 of pores before ventrals, a cross line connecting ventrals, a series of pores 

 from the vent jiassing around anal on each side. Lateral line well devel- 

 oped, running high. Head without spines. Gill openings very broad. 

 Pectorals long; caudal short, forked. One species known, in deep water. 

 (^£f5?/5, false ; Scopelus.) 



2630. PSEUDOSCOPELUS SCRIPTUS, Liitken. 



Head 3i; depth 4i. D. VIII-22; A. 22; V. I, 5. Body subfusiform, 

 somewhat compressed. Head large, the snout short and pointed, i^ in 

 head, the small eye, about 5. Jaws subequal, maxillary li in head ; cheek 

 V-shaped, verj^ oblique; bones of head not serrate. Form of head- and 

 mouth much as in EngrmiUs or Scopelvs. Pectoral nearly as long as 

 head, reaching past front of anal; soft dorsal higher than spinous, the 

 anterior rays of soft dorsal and anal elevated. Pores as above described. 



* The first specimen of this remarkable fish was obtained at Magdalena (Madeira), at a 

 depth of 312 fathoms, in 1850, by Lowe, who, however, omitted to give a description of it. 

 The species was rediscovered at the siinie locality by Johnson twelve years later. A 

 third .specimen wiis picked up from the surface, near the island of Dominica. A fourth 

 examide was obtained by the Ghallenger in mid- Atlantic, at Station 107, in 1,500 fathoms, 

 on August 26, 1873. A fifth was obtained by the U. S. National Museum from Capt. 

 Thomas F. Ilodgdon of the Gloucester schooner JSessie W. Sotners. It was found on Le 

 Have Bank, lioatiug on the surface, iu June, 1880. (Good© & Bean.) 



