420 



BULLETIN 100, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The head, as usual, is deeper than wide, the erroneous statement 

 to the contrary in the type description being due to the abnormal in- 

 flation of the sides of the head. A few proportions follow : length 

 of orbit, 3.8 in head; length of snout, 3.6 (3.8) ; least interorbital dis- 

 tance, 4.1; length of upper jaw, 3.3; length of barbel, 0.G length of 

 orbit (in specimen from station 5609). A triangular portion of the 

 interopercle is visible above and behind the rounded, denticulate 

 margin of the preopercle; the ridge of the preopercle is produced 

 backward as a rounded lobe. Number of branchiostegal rays, 6. 

 Five rows of scales occupy the region between the lateral line series 

 and the front of the second dorsal. 



The ventral fins are inserted well behind the pectorals, directly 

 below the origin of the first dorsal. The distance between the inser- 

 tion of the ventrals and the center of the anus is very short, being 

 about equal to the length of the snout, and shorter than the distance 

 between the ventral base and the isthmus. 



The buccal cavity is lined with dusky, but is lighter behind the cor- 

 ners of the mouth; the branchial and abdominal cavities are lined 

 with bluish black. 



The type-figure, referred to above, is rather inaccurately drawn; 

 the snout is represented too long, and the ventral fins are inserted 

 too far forward. 



This aberrant species is certainly not closely related, as Radcliffe 

 was led to believe, to Macrurus petersonii Alcock, a species which in- 

 habits comparatively shallow water and belongs to a genus quite dis- 

 tinct, namely Venirifossa. 



Table of measurements in hundredths of length to anus. 



Type. Paratype. 



Albatross station 



Total length in mm 



Length to anus in mm 



Length of head 



Length of orbit 



Width of interorbital 



Width of suborbital 



Orbit to preopercle 



Length of snout 



Length of upper jaw 



Length of barbel 



Depth of body 



Width of body 



Anus to ventral 



Ventral to isthmus 



Length of first dorsal base 



Length of pectoral 



Length of outer ventral ray . . 

 Length of second ventral ray . 



A small pseudocaudal developed. 



(aequatoris, in reference to the type locality, which is nearly 

 under the equator.) 



