114 PROCEEDINGS OF TH£ NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.43. 



MACROURUS NIGROMARGINATUS Smith and Radcliffe, new species. 

 Plate 24, fig. 2. 



Dorsal II, lO-(about) 110; anal about 100; ventralslO; pectorals 20. 



Head 5.64 in total length, 1.40 in distance from tip of snout to 

 anal fin, rather blunt anteriorly, compressed, breadth about 0.5 its 

 length, bones rather firm, ridges inconspicuous; body arched, com- 

 pressed, greatest depth at origin of dorsal 6,20 in total length; vent 

 just behind base of ventrals; tail short, tapering; eye 3.08 in head, 

 subcircular, longer than snout; interorbital 4, flattened; snout 3.64, 

 short, blunt, rounded, projecting but little beyond mouth, its height 

 at tip about 0.8 diameter of eye; mouth of moderate size; maxillary 

 2.67, reaching vertical from middle of eye; teeth of moderate size, 

 subcorneal, outer row in upper jaw enlarged; barbel stout, 0.8 diame- 

 ter of eye in length; scales small, about 12 from origin of dorsal to 

 and including lateral line, exposed portion of each scale armed with 

 long, slender spinules, normally arranged in about 6 to 8 nearly par- 

 allel rows; spinules larger, in smaller number, and more regular in 

 their arrangement than in M. macronemus; lateral line prominent, 

 arched anteriorly, becoming median above tenth anal ray. 



Tip of snout to origin of dorsal, 5.15 in total length; second dorsal 

 spine as long as head, armed with about 15 spinules; interdorsal 

 space 1.45 in head; origin of anal behind base of first dorsal, its ante- 

 rior rays as long as eye, much better developed than those of second 

 dorsal; outer ventral ray 1.68 in head, not greatly produced beyond 

 adjacent rays; pectoral 1.60. 



Color in alcohol: Ground color light clay; region below pectorals 

 blackish underneath; scales of this region smoke-gray; dorsal spines 

 and anterior rays dusky black, posterior rays straw-colored; anal 

 straw-colored; distal half of first 7 rays black, tips of anterior ven- 

 tral rays blackish, remaining rays dusky; pectoral dusky, axil 

 blackish. 



Type.— C&t. No. 72930, U.S.N.M., 18 cm. in length, taken with a 

 beam trawl at station 5569 (lat. 5° 33' 15" N. ; long. 120° 15' 30" E.), 

 near Simaluc Island, at a depth of 303 fathoms, on a bottom of coral 

 sand. 



Among the examples of tliis small species are several females with 

 well-developed eggs. The black markings on dorsal, anal, and ven- 

 trals are distinctive, and in some examples are much more distinct 

 than in the type. 



I 



