564 NEW FISHES FROM PACIFIC COAST GILBERT. 



duced. Outer gill arch adnate, as usual in Macruriis, seven short 

 tubercular gill rakers present on its free i)ortion. 



Head G in total length, the tail frequently mutilated, however ; the 

 head then appearing larger in proportion. Depth If in head ; D. 10. 



First dorsal spine slender and weak, with one or two small retrorse 

 prickles near its middle. Distance between dorsals equal to two-fifths 

 base of first. Ventrals with seven rays. Pectorals with seventeen. 



Vent immediately in front of anal origin, its distance from base of 

 ventrals slightly more than half head. 



Pectorals long and narrow, reaching vertical from ninth or tenth ray 

 of second dorsal, more than half length of head. Outer ventral ray 

 l)rodnced into a long slender filament reaching five-sixths the distance 

 from its base to front of anal. 



Scales rather small, ten or eleven in a series between lateral line and 

 origin of second dorsal or middle of first dorsal. Scales on sides very 

 thin and flexible, readily deciduous, each furnished with low diverging 

 ridges, usually three in number, bearing few minute spinules, and pro- 

 jecting but little beyond the margins of the scales. Entire head, in- 

 cluding snout and mandibles, invested with much smaller scales Irregu- 

 larly imbricated, those on opercles marked similarly to those on sides, 

 the others usually each with a single median ridge terminating in a 

 spinous point. Ko naked spots or pits on head or between ventral 

 tins. A small naked area behind and below axil of pectorals. 



Color light grayish, darker on belly and head. Mouth, gill cavity, 

 and peritoneum black. Lateral line black. Dorsals and ventrals 

 dusky. Anal lighter, edged with blackish. Pectorals black. 



It is not evident whether thi» species should be placed in Optonurus 

 (with serrated dorsal spine) or in Malaeocephalus. The value of the 

 character separating them does not seem to be great. 



Specimens have been taken at Stations 3071, 3071, and 3075, in 

 depths of 085 to 877 fathoms, oft" the coast of Oregon. 



32. Lycodes diapterus sp. nov. 



Body slender, the depth 12 in length ; head 5?^ to 6. 



Mouth small, somewhat variable in length, the maxillary reaching 

 vertical from between front and middle of pupil, 2^ to 3 in head. 



Teeth in premaxillaries in a double row throughout, the two series 

 well separated, rarely with one or two teeth intercalated sliowing 

 traces of a third row. The teeth of inner series are small and directed 

 obliquely inwards; those of outer series anteriorly enlarged, becoming 

 smaller on sides of jfivv. 



On front of mandible the teeth are in a broad band, in which traces 

 of three or four irregular series can be made out; none of these en- 

 larged. Laterally the teeth are arranged in a single series, those op- 

 posite middle of cleft considerably enlarged. A small patch of from 

 two to five teeth on vomer. Palatines with a single row much shorter 

 than premaxillary patch. 



