PHILIPPINE MACROUROID FISHES GILBERT AND HUBBS. 541 



Genus MALACOCEPHALUS Gttnther. 



For a description of this genus with a discussion of its relation- 

 ships, and for a key to the four species it contains, reference may 

 be made to our report on the macrouroid fishes in Japan. 1 



54. MALACOCEPHALUS LUZONENSIS, new species. 



Malacocephalus, species, Gilbert and Hvbbs, Proe. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 51, 

 1916, p. 189. 



Type-specimen. — Cat. No. 83626 U.S.N.M., 56.5 mm. long to anus; 

 dredged at Albatross station 5440. 



List of stations. 



Fin-rays — first dorsal, II, 10; pectorals 16 or 17, ventrals, 9. 



This species is characteristically blunt-headed; the greatest depth, 

 between the vertical from front of first dorsal and that from the pre- 

 opercular ridge, is contained 1.2 times in the head. The snout is 

 unusually low and blunt, its bony tip is on a horizontal from the 

 lower margin of pupil ; preocular length of snout, 4.2 in head ; pre- 

 oral length, 3.7 in postorbital. The least interorbital width slightly 

 exceeds the length of orbit. The ridge and margin of the preopercle 

 are sharply produced backward at their angles ; the least suborbital 

 width is nearly equal to the diameter of pupil. The mouth is large 

 and oblique; the length of the upper jaw, which extends backward 

 well beyond the orbit, is contained 1.8 times in the head; the teeth 

 are stronger than in the Japanese or Hawaiian species, the longest 

 being about one-seventh as long as the orbit; the teeth are recurved, 

 and are arranged in two series in the upper jaw, of which the outer 

 row is enlarged, like the single series on the lower jaw. The barbel 

 is long and slender, being contained 1.6 times in the orbit. The gill- 

 membranes form a narrow free fold across the isthmus below the pos- 

 terior margin of the orbit ; this wide forward extension of the bran- 

 chial aperture in Malacocephalus is evidence of relationships with 

 Tlymenocephalus and with Ventri fossa, the next genus to be described. 



The scales are very small; about 13 series separate the prominent 

 lateral line from the origin of the second dorsal; each scale is armed 

 with about 10 small suberect spinules arranged in a diamond-shaped 

 patch on each scale. The anterior curve of the lateral line is long 

 and low. The gular membrane is naked; the branchiostegal mem- 

 brane is scaled over the 7 rays. 



i Gilbert and Hubbs, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 51, 1916, pp. 136, 141, 189. 



