40. ALEPIDOSAURID.a3 ALEPIDOSAURUS. 
275 
the premaxillary, immovable. Teetb very unequal, immovable, and 
subject to many variations in the same species ; a series of small teeth 
the entire length of the premaxillary; those in front sometimes larger 
and carved. Palatine teeth compressed, triaugnlar, pointed; two or 
three of the anterior ones exceedingly long and strong, fang-like; the 
posterior ones moderate. Teeth of the lower jaw similar to those on the 
palatines, one pair in front and two or three pairs in the middle being 
much enlarged. No teeth on the tongue. Eye large. Gill-openings 
very wide; the gill-membranes not united, free from the isthmus. Gill- 
rakers sthf, shortish, spine-like. Branchiostegals o-7. Pseudobranchiie 
large. Opercular bones thin, membranaceous. Dorsal tin very long, oc- 
cupying nearly the whole of the back, of more than 40 rays; adipose fin 
present, moderate; anal fin moderate; caudal fin forked. Air-bladder 
none. Large fishes of the deep seas, found in the Atlantic and Pacific. 
One genus and G or 8 species. Every part of the Alepidomxirus is so 
fragile that it is extremely difficult to imocure specimens. The structure 
of the dorsal fin is so delicate that it must be liable to injury even in 
the water; the bones are very feebly ossified, and the fibrous ligaments 
connecting the vertebra? are very loose and extensible, so that the body 
may be considerably stretched. “This loose connection of the single 
parts of the body is found in numerous deep-sea fishes, and is merely 
the consequence of their withdrawal from the pressure of the water to 
which they are exposed in the depths inhabited bj’ them. When within 
the limits of their natural haunts the osseous, muscular, and fibrous 
parts of the bodj’ will have that solidity which is required for the rapid 
and powerful movements of a predatory fish. That fishes of this genus 
{Alepidosaunis) belong to the most ferocious of the class is proved by 
their dentition and the contents of their stomach, but it is worthy of 
notice that although the mouth is so deeply cleft, the lower jaw cannot 
be moved from the upper at a greater angle than about 40°.” {Gunther.) 
{Scopelklce, group Alepidosaurina Giintlier, y, 420-4‘23.) 
128 ALEPIUOSAUKUS Lowe. 
Lancet -fishes. 
{Alepisaurm Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc. Loud. 1833, 104; ippa Alepisaurus ferox Lowe.) 
Characters of the genus included above. The name Flagyodus Steller 
(Pallas, Zoogr. Boss. Asiat. iii, 383) has been lately accepted by Dr. 
Giintlier for this genus. A specimen of one of the Pacific species was 
obtained by Steller from the Kurile Islands, and a brief description of 
