44. STOMIATID^ ASTRONESTHES. 
287 
body. Series of pliosplioresceiit dots along the lower side of the head, 
body, and tail. Gill-openings very wide. Gill-rakers minute. No psendo- 
hranchim. No air-bladder. Atlantic. a viper; mouth.) 
47 i. E. toas’ljatMm Lowe. 
Black, with an elongate, club shaped (phosphorescent) rose-colored 
spot between the maxillary and the eye. Barbel as long as head (in 
specimens seen), fringed at its tip. “ Upper ray of pectoral produced iu 
a long and slender filament reaching nearly to the root of the ventrals” 
(wanting in specimens examined). Ventrals narrow, elongate. Ilead 0 
in length; depth 0. B. 12; 13.12-15; A. 17; P. 3-5;V. 8. L. 9 inches. 
Deep waters of the Atlantic; lately taken off Gloucester, IMass. 
(Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc. Loml. 1843, 88; Giinther, v. 427 ; Goode & Bean, Bull. Essex. 
Inst. 1879, 23.) 
136.— MAEACOSTEES Ayres. 
(Ayres, Journ. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 1849, 53: type Malacostcus niger Ayres.) 
Body elongate, compressed, scaleless. Head rather compressed, the 
snout very short, tlie cleft of the mouth very wide, extending to behind 
the root of the pectorals. Teeth pointed, unequal, in single series on 
both jaws and tongue; none on the palate. Opercula membranaceous. 
Dorsal far back, opposite anal. Pectorals rudimentary. Ventrals 
rather posterior. One species known. (,aa/laxoc, soft; da-io^^ bone.) 
4 . 72 , M. laiger Ayres. 
Black, with a white loral S]iot. Snout very short, convex. Lower 
jaw with very long canines. Barbel long and slender. Pectoral rays 
coalescing into a thin, long filament. Ventrals filamentons._^ Head 
with caudal; dej)th G. D. 19; A. 20; P. 5; V. G. North Atlantic; a 
single specimen known. (Ayres.) 
(Ayres, 1. c. ; Gmitlier, vi, 427.) 
13?'.— ASTTKONESTIIES Richardson. 
(Richardson, Ichth. Voy. Sulph. 97, 18 15: Asironesthes nigra Rich.) 
Body rather elongate, compressed, scaleless. Head compressed, the 
snout short, the mouth wide. Teeth pointed, unequal. Upper jaw with 
four long, curved canines; lower with two; maxillary teeth fine, sub- 
equal; palatines with a single series of small, pointed teeth, similar to 
those on tongue. Eye moderate. Throat with a barbel. Dorsal fin 
long, inserted in front of anal, behind ventrals; adipose fin present; 
caudal forked ; paired fins well developed. Gill-rakers minute. No pseu- 
dobranchiie. No air-bladder. Lower parts with ifiiosphoresceut spots. 
(aarpov^ Star (star-fish); eaOuo^ to eat.) 
