2584 Bulletin ^7, United States National Museum. 



oil)it equal to length of head; first spine Tery short, not ninch longer 

 than the teeth of the sceond spine; second spine in length twice horizon- 

 tal diameter of orhit, stout, its anterior margin armed from base to tip 

 with 15 teeth pointing npw^ard, the uppermost slender; its length to tip 

 of filament almost equal to distance from origin of second dorsal, this tip 

 when laid hack reaching almost to second dorsal; rays decreasing regu- 

 larly in length so that, when the fin is npright, its shape approximates 

 that of a right-angled triangle, the hypothenuse of which is the second 

 dorsal spine, and its perpendicular side a line touching the tips of the 

 rays; length of base of second dorsal less than that of the anal, its origin 

 over the thirteenth scale of lateral line. Length of longest ray less than 

 length of barbel ; all rays A'ery feeble; membrane searcely perceptible; 

 distance of anal from snout 3;| times in its length at base, its origin under 

 eighteenth scale of lateral line; length of first ray 4^ the length of tenth, and 

 3 times the length of last ray, the length of rays increasing to a point 

 beneath anterior part of first dorsal, and thence gradually decreasing to 

 tip of tail ; distance of pectoral from snout 4 times width of intcrorbital 

 area, its length twice length of mandible; insertion above the middle of 

 dejith of body, on a level with center of orbit, its third ray longest, its 

 tip reaching to vertical from base of fourth ray; insertion of ventral be- 

 hind pectoral and almost under that of first dorsal, its distance from snout 

 slightly exceeding twice its length; tip of ventral filament reaching base 

 of third anal ray. Ground color, light brownish gray; under parts sil- 

 very; belly darker, l)luish; und«r surface of snout pink, as is also the 

 first dorsal, except spines; spines of dorsal, ventral, and anterior anal 

 rays blackish; thioat, branch iostegal membrane, and isthmus rich deep 

 violet; sclerotic coat green; eyes very dark blue. This species was the 

 first deep-sea fish obtained by the Fish Commission or described by an 

 American ichthyologist. It ranges in depths from 9 to 1,255 fathoms. 

 This species is distinguished by Giinther from his Macrourtta (Bqualis, 

 which it closely resembles, (1) by its longer snout, which is nearly equal 

 to the diameter of the eye, and (2) by the smaller number of ventral rays 

 (7). (Goode & Bean.) West Indies to Massachusetts Bay, usually in 

 great depths; excessively abundant on the continental slope, with I'hycis 

 chcstcri, far outnumbering all other deep-sea fishes in the region. (Named 

 for Spencer Fullertou Baird.) 



Macrottrus bairdii, Goode & Bean, Amer. Journ. Sci. and Arts 1877, 471, Massachusetts 

 Bay; GooDE, Proc. IT. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 337, 475; GiJNTHER, CbalU-uger Kcport, xxn, 

 135, pi. 22, fig. B, 1887 ; GooDE & Bean, Oceanic Ichtbyology, 393, fig. 335, 1896. 



2960. MAtlROURUS LEPTURCS, Gill & Townsend. 



Head5i; depth 8; eye 4| in head; snout 4; maxillary 2^. D. XIV-122; 

 A. 116; P. 20; V. 8. Scales deciduous and moderate, oblong or oval with 

 reduced exposed surfaces, those on the back or above the lateral line with 

 a few, 3 to 5, ridges beset with spines, but those below mostly unarmed; 

 head regularly conical; snout moderately extended; median tubercle very 

 projecting, the lateral well developed, connected with the median by a 

 well-defined ridge; infraorbital vertical, with the ridge linear and near 



