518 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.86 



and the heavy symphysis of the lower jaws projects beyond the snout 

 when the mouth is closed. 



The eye is large, being only a Uttle less in diameter than the length 

 of the snout. The interorbital space is wide and convex. The lower 

 jaws are connected by a fuU membrane, which is attached to the tip 

 of the isthmus. There are 13 branchiostegal rays. The barbel is a 

 little nearer the isthmus than the symphysis. It is a short, stout, jet- 

 black stub, which, as mentioned above, may be natural or may be 

 only the remainder of a mutilated organ. As it is, it does not show 

 in the ventral outline but is entirely contained in the concavity be- 

 tween the two jaws. 



The body is jet-black over all. Much of the thin epidermis was 

 rubbed off in removing the fish from the net, although great care was 

 taken to avoid such mutilation. This exposed a lead-gray dermis. 

 The form of the body is elongate and terete. It is most compressed 

 and deepest ahead of the insertion of the ventrals. There are no 

 pectoral fins. The pelvic fins are inserted well behind the middle of 

 the body and near the ventral outline. The base is broad; the rays 

 are stout. Although many of the rays have been broken off, the four 

 which are intact are long (7.6 in length without caudal) and taper to 

 fine filaments. The anal and dorsal originate on the same vertical and 

 are both covered only by a normal membrane. The caudal is small 

 and deeply notched. 



The much smaller paratype differs in some respects from the above 

 description. It has 14 dorsal rays, 19 anal rays, and the ventral on 

 both sides contains only 8 raj-s. The caudal has 25 rays, 3 short fine 

 rays above, 4 long thick rays forming the upper lobe of the fin, 11 

 shorter, much more delicate rays forming the fork of the tail, 4 more 

 long stout rays forming the lower lobe, followed by 3 rays on the 

 ventral side of the fin similar to those on the dorsal side. The length 

 without caudal is 99 mm. Proportions of the length without caudal: 

 Snout to ventrals 1.5; snout to anal 1.2; depth ahead of ventral in- 

 sertion 19.8; depth behind head 22.0; diameter of eye 33.0; length of 

 the lower jaw 9.2; length of snout 38.2; the longest ventral ray 14.1. 



The anterior two-thirds of the circular postorbital luminous spot 

 shows as a typical wldte patch; the posterior one-third is covered by 

 pigment. The spot on the anteroventral margin of the eye is more 

 distinct than that in the holotype. There is no luminous spot on the 

 anterior dorsal margin of the eye. Owing to the lighter color of the 

 epidermis the myriad tiny glandular dots over the body and head are 

 more apparent than they are on the larger specimen. They each 

 consist of a white dot surrounded by black pigment. They are not 

 arranged in any definite pattern except upon the lower jaw, where 

 there is a straight, closely crowded row extending back along the 



