[SCIENTIFIC RESULTS OF THE PHILIPPINE CRUISE OF THE FISHERIES STEAMER 

 "ALBATROSS," 1907-1910. NO. 20.] 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW FAMILY OF PEDICULATE FISHES 



FROM CELEBES. 



By Hugh M. Smith and Lewis Radcliffe, 



0/ the United States Bureau of Fisheries. 



Durin<:j the Philippine expedition the Fisheries steamer Albatross 

 cruised around the island of Celebes and made dredgings at various 

 places off the coast and in the bays of that island. ■ A number of deep- 

 water stations were established in the Gulf of Tomini on the cast 

 coast, and among the animals there obtained was the remarkable 

 fish that is the subject of this paper. 



TIIAUMATICHTHYIDiE, new family (Pediculati). 



Highly divergent pediculates characterized by elongate, slender 

 body; large, depressed head, with weak, slender bones; enormous 

 horizontal mouth, with large, unequal tooth; uj)por jaw much longer 

 and broader than lower, the premaxillarios widely separated at tip, 

 leaving a broad edentulate concavity; small 03'e near angle of mouth; 

 small gill openings, below axil of pectorals; pseudobranchiaj absent; 

 well-developed fins, the pectorals not geniculated, the ventrals 

 absent, a greatly modifiod detached dorsal spine which lies in a mem- 

 branous area on the top of the head and terminates in a complex lure 

 wdtliin the mouth near the anterior margin of the jaw. 



This family is most nearly related to the Ceratiida? among (he 

 known pediculates, but is distinguished therefrom by the greatly ex- 

 panded and depressed head, the slender body, the shape of the upper 

 jaw, the dentition, the absence of free doreal spmes, the remarkable 

 modification of the illicium, etc. 



THAUMATICHTHYS Smith and Radcliffe, new genus. 



Body elongate, compressed; head large, depressed, and expanded 

 laterally, the feeble, slender bones separated and held in place by a 

 very thin, translucent membrane; mouth large, cavernous; jaws very 

 broad, unequal ; upper jaw with a wide central semicircular indentation 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 42— No. 1917. 



579 



