2516 Bulletin ^y, U^iitcd States Natmial Museum. 



part being tlie longer. Color uniform grayish brown ; fins darker. The 

 type of this species was obtained by the Jihatross from Station 2684, off 

 Cape Henlopen, Delaware, in Lat. 39° 35' N., Long. TO^^ 54' W., at a depth 

 of 1,106 fathoms. (Goods & Bean.) (Named for Dr. Theodore Gill.) 

 Bassogigas gillii, (iooDE & Bean. Oceanic Ichthyology, 328, tig. 29], 1896, off Cape Hen- 

 lopen, Delaware, in i,io6 fathoms. (Type, No. 39417. Coll. Albatross.) 



2888. BASSOGIGAS 8TELLIFER0IDES (Gilbert). 



Head 4 to 4^ in length; depth 5 to 5^. D. 95; A. 82; scales 110. Phy- 

 siognomy strikingly like that of the Sciivnoid gcnns SteUifcr. Mouth 

 large, obliqiie, the lower jaw included, maxillary reaching well beyond 

 orbit, i length of head. Teeth uniform, small, in narrow bands, those 

 on vomer in a /~\. -shaped patch; a well-developed l)and on palatines; 

 tongue smooth, a well-developed dentigerous crest on median line behind 

 it; no barbel at symphysis. Snout short, bluntly rounded, about equaling 

 diameter of orbit, slightly overhanging mouth, 5 in head; interorbital 

 width 4; upper limb of preopercle extending obliquely downward and 

 backward, largely adnate, the angle inodnced into a free membranaceous 

 flap which entirely conceals the narrow intcropercle, and bears no sjiines. 

 The structure of the gill flap does not appear to have been correctly inter- 

 preted. The operclc is strong, but of small extent, forking at its base, 1 

 branch continued straight backward as a strong spine, the second a narrow 

 flat process downward and somewhat backward, parallel with and little 

 distant from margin of preopercle. Filling the deep notch between these 

 2 processes, and forming the greater portion of the gill flap, is the thin 

 membranaceous subopercle. Branchiostegal rays 7. Gill rakers long and 

 shmder, the longest f diameter of orbit, 7 above angle, 13 and about 5 

 rudiments below. Nape midway between front of dorsal and front of eye ; 

 dorsal and anal similar, uniform, low, joined to base of caudal, the latter 

 truncate, projecting well beyond them; ventrals inserted under angle of 

 preopercle, each of a single ray forked to the very base, the 2 branches 

 united by membrane for a distance equaling f orbit, the inner filaments 

 being longest, i longer than head, and extending well beyond front of anal ; 

 pectorals long and narrow, li in head; a narrow membranaceous flap con- 

 necting base of pectorals with upper angle of opercular flap. Scales small, 

 well imbricated, entirely investing body and head, including gnlar mem- 

 brane and part of gill membranes; lateral line nearly complete, lacking 

 for about i length of body, running high, parallel with dorsal outline. 

 Color silvery gray, dusted with coarse l>lack specks, darker along dorsal 

 outline; dorsal and anal Avith a narrow light streak at base, otherwise 

 dusky, becoming black posteriorly, and with a narrow white margin; 

 caudal black, with a broad white terminal bar; pectorals and ventrals 

 white, with few black specks; peritoneum silvery white; mouth white 

 anteriorly, its posterior portion and gill cavity jet-black. Pacific Ocean, 

 off" coast of Lower California. Many specimens from Alhaiross Station 

 2996, in 112 fathoms. Length 7 inches. (Stellifer, a genus of Sciwnidw ; 

 £/(5o5, resemblance.) 



Neobythites stelliferoides, Gu.bert, Proc, U.S.Nat. Mus. 1891, 112, off Lower California. 

 (Type, No. 44383. Coll. Dr. Gilbert.) 



