NO. 2U9. JAPANESE MACROUROID FISHES— GILBERT AND HUBBS. 149 



toides has but 3| gills, with no slit behind the last arch. We also 

 fail to recognize Begania, as the firmness of the head varies widely 

 among the species of both Bathygadus and Gadomus. 



A reexamination of the coracoid foramen in a number of species 

 of Bathygadus and Gadomus indicates that its position is not of 

 generic value in this group, since it is apparently variable in groups 

 of evidently related species. The foramen is within the hypercora- 

 coid in Gadomus melanoptems, but between the hypercoracoid and 

 the hypocoracoid in our specimens of G. midtifilis and G. colletti. 

 Moreover, the foramen lies between the two bones in B. macrofs and 

 B. garretti, but perforates the hypercoracoid in B. sulcatus and B, 

 ■fllainentosus. These four species closely resemble one another, and 

 are probably closely related. Finally, an intermediate condition is 

 evident in B. antrodes^ in which species the walls of the foramen 

 lie almost entirely within the hypercoracoid, but remain in con- 

 tact with the suture. The position of the coracoid foramen has 

 been used as a generic character by Regan,^ Jordan,^ Gilbert,^ and 

 Radcliffe.'^ 



Branchiostegals 7; first pectoral ray flexible, unbranched, and in- 

 articulate ; no scaleless pits, grooves, nor ventral striae present in any 

 species. A very peculiar type of squamation is found in the species 

 of Bathygadus. The large sensory canal just anterior to the origin 

 of the lateral line is covered by a group of large imbricating scales, 

 several times the ordinary size, marked with radii and concentric 

 striae, and overlapping normal scales posteriorly. These large scales 

 are completely covered by normal scales. The same type of squama- 

 tion is developed in Hymenocephalus., in which the sensory canals are 

 also enlarged. In both the Bathygadinae and the Coryphaenoidinae, 

 then, these scales are best developed in genera in which the sensory 

 canals are excessively developed. 



1. BATHYGADUS ANTRODES (Jordan and Gilbert). 

 Melanobranchus antrodes Jordan and Gilbert, Bull. U. S. Fish. Comrn., 

 1902 (1904), p. 606. pi. 4. fig. 1. 



Sixteen specimens, from 104 to 483 mm. in total length, 37 to 163 

 mm. to anus, were dredged off the east coast of central Hondo. 



1 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, vol. 11, 1903, p. 459. 



2 Bull. U. S. Fish. Comm., 1902 (1904), p. 602. 

 'Idem., 1903 (1905), pt. 2, pp. o59 to 661. 



« Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 48, 1913, p. 105. 



