808 CONTEIBUTIONS TO NOKTH AMEEICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 
444. — HYPSICOMETES Goode. 
(Goode, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 347: type Hypsicometes yoMoides Goode.) 
Body elongate, covered with large scales; mouth rather small, hori- 
zontal, the lower jaw much projecting; 2 or 3 rows of feeble teeth on 
jaws and vomer; none on palatines. Eyes large, superior, near to- 
gether. No barbel; no pseiidobrauchi;e. Caudal fin separate; 2 dor- 
sal fins, the first of a few long rays, the second with a longer base, 
entire, and similar to the anal; veutrals well developed, each of 0 rays. 
Deep-sea fishes, {tjiin, in deep water; y.tuurjrrj!;, dweller.) 
124G. IB. gobioides Goode. 
Color grayish, clouded with darker; belly pale; a large dark blotch 
at base of nj^per rays of caudal. Head rather broad and depressed, 
its width about equal to greatest depth of body; maxillary reaching 
front of orbit; snout broad, rounded, as long as eye. Caudal truncate; 
longest rays of first dorsal as long as the snout; veutrals wide apart, 
with broad bases, inserted far in advance of the i)ectorals. Head 3; 
depth 8. D. C-17 ; A. 16; V. 6; Lat. 1. 58. L. 2 inches. Gulf Stream, 
off the coast of Ehode Island. {Goode.) 
(Goode, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. iii, 348, 1880.) 
445. — MEBEECIIJS Ealiuesque. 
Halves. 
(Eafinesque, Caratteri di Alcuni Nuovi Generi, etc. 1810, 26: type Gadus merlucius L.) 
Body elongate, covered with small deciduous scales. Head slender, 
conical, the snout long, depressed; a well-defined, oblong, triangular 
excavation at the forehead, bounded by the ridges on the separated 
frontal bones; these ridges converge backwards into the low occipital 
crest; eye rather large; edge of preopercle free; preopercle with a 
channel behind its crest, crossed by short radiating ridges; mouth 
large, oblique; maxillaries extending to opposite the eyes; lower jaw 
longest; no barbels; jaws with slender teeth, of various sizes, in about 
2 series, those of the inner row longer and movable; vomer with sim- 
ilar teeth; palatines toothless. Braucliiostegals 7. Gill- rakers long; 
gill-membranes not united. Dorsal fins 2, well se]4arated, the first 
short, the second long, with a deep emarginatiou ; anal emargiuate, 
similar to second dorsal; ventral fins well developed, with about 7 
rays; vertebrae peculiarly modified, the neural spines well developed 
and wedged into one another; frontal bone double and the skull oth- 
