2510 Bulletin ^7, United States National Afuseimt. 



of .1 simple filament, tlie origin slightly in advance of vertical through pec- 

 toral origin, the length f that of head, not reaching nearly to vent, the dis- 

 tance of which from origin of veutrals is slightly greater than length of 

 head. Color hrowniwh yellow; head and abdomen blackish. Gulf of 

 Mexico, in great depths. Only the type known, 237 mm. long, {catena, 

 chain, from the arrangement of the mncons cavities on the head.) 



Bassozetus catena, GooDE &. Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1885, 603, Lat. 28° 00' 15" N., 

 Long. 87° 42' W., in 1,467 fathoms (Type, No. 37341. Coll. Albatross) ; Gunther, Cbal- 

 le.nger Report, xxn, 111, 1887; Goode & Bean, Oceanic Ichthyology, 323, fig. 286, 1896. 



2882. BASSOZETUS T.EIVIA (Giinther). 



D. 138 ; A. 115 ; P. 30 ; V. 1. The greatest depth of the body is below the 

 origin of the dorsal fin and about ^ of the length of the trunk, the vent 

 being not quite thrice as distant from the extremity of the tail as from 

 thesnotit; therefore, the whole of the fish, and especially the tail, is much 

 attenuated. Head not compressed, low and long, forming 4^ length of 

 trunk. Structure of the bones of the head as in B. compressus. Snout 

 ratlier swollen and broad, the upper jaw but slightly overlapping the 

 lower; maxillary extending far behind the eye, which is very small, ^ 

 length of snout, about ,-4- that of head, an<l } width of iutei'orbital space. 

 Teeth very small and short, densely set, forming narrow, villiform bands; 

 vomerine bands open A-shaped. Gill cavity deep black; gill rakers long 

 and slender, 16 in number, with some rudimentary ones in front and 

 behind. Dorsal fin commencing above upper end of gill opening, with 

 short rays partly hidden in the skin, the rays becoming longer on the 

 anterior third of tail, hut remaining of moderate length, the anal rays 

 still shorter; pectoral with a broad base, quite free, and comjiosed of 

 rather feeble rays, its length equal to that of postorbital portion of head; 

 ventral rays very feeble, reaching nearly to the middle of the pectoral. 

 The scales must have been extremely thin and rather small ; there were 

 probably about 20 in a transverse series running from the vent to the dor- 

 sal fin. The lateral line can not be made out. Light colored (possibly 

 pink in life), with the head and abdomen black. Only 1 specimen known 

 of this eminently bathybial fish, obtained in mid- Atlantic {Cha,llengcr 

 Station 104) at a depth of 2,500 fathoms. Its total length is 10 inches. 

 (raii^m, ribbon.) 



Bathyoniis tcenia, Guntheb, Challenger Report, xxn, 110, 1887, pi. 23, fig. A, mid-Atlantic, 

 Station 104, at a depth of 2,500 fathoms; Goode &, Bean, Oceanic Ichth., 323, 1896. 



962. MCEBIA, Goode & Bean. 



Moehia, GoODE & Bean, Oce.inic Ichthyology, 331, 1806 (gracilis). 



Brotulids resembling Bassozetus in general form, excepting that the tail 

 is prolonged in a very slender filament, the dorsal and anal rays being 

 extremely short posteriorly, but positively confluent with the caudal rays, 

 which are much longer and much exserted; ventrals each bifid, instead of 

 a single ray, as in Bassozetus. Head very cavernous, the sinuses large 

 and conspicuous on the infraorbital ring, on the mandible, and the pre- 



