418 BULLETIN 100, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



16. CORYPHAENOIDES MICROPS (Smith and Radcliffe). 



Macrourus microps Smith and Radcliffe, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mils., vol. 43, 

 1912, p. 116, pi. 25, fig. 2. 



List of stations. 



A series of eight or nine scales separates the origin of the second 

 dorsal fin -from the lateral-line series. 



Measurements of the large type follow : Length of orbit, 6.0 in head, 

 1.7 in snout, 1.15 in interorbital width, 5.2 in head; length of 

 snout, 3.7. 



The small specimens, four in number, differ in several respects so 

 widely from the type-specimen that one might be led to separate 

 them as a distinct form. On the basis of the limited material, and 

 especially because the variations are partly paralleled in the growth 

 of C. marginatus, 1 we regard the differences between them as being 

 due to age variations. The differences in proportion are well indi- 

 cated in the table of measurements. Further differences are listed 

 below : 



1. The number of parallel rows of spinules on the scales is fewer in the 

 smaller specimens (a very similar variation occurs in C. marginatus, the closely 

 related Japanese species). 1 



2. The number and strength of the serrations on the second dorsal spine 

 apparently decrease with the age of the fish, as in C. marginatus. 1 They are 

 very weak in the type-specimen. 



3. The first dorsal spine is comparatively strong and sharp in the smallest 

 specimen, becoming progressively weaker in the larger specimens, being rudi- 

 mentary in the large type. This variation is normal. 



1 Gilbert and Hubbs, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 51, 1016, p. 165. 



