160 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.51. 



maxillary 2.2 to 3.33; teeth biserial in both jaws/ those of the outer 

 premaxillary series sharp, conic, and strongly curved inward, en- 

 larged anteriorly, being twice as long as and much stronger than 

 those of the inner series; teeth of the inner mandibular series (9 to 16 

 on each side) much enlarged, and of nearly uniform size, about as 

 long as those of the outer premaxillary series, but less curved ; those 

 of the outer mandibular series small, and close to the inner series; 

 six branchiostegals ; gill membranes with a wide, free fold, 2+14 

 short, broad, movable gill-rakers on the first arch, better developed 

 than usual in the Coryphaenoidinae, each provided wath a group of 

 terminal spines; width of gill slit before first arch 1.2 in orbit, the 

 slit behind the last arch 1.4 to 1.6; no pseudobranchiae. 



About 12 scales in a series between the origin of the second dorsal 

 and the lateral line ; scales thin, and almost unarmed on anterior sides, 

 with about three feeble ridges, cycloid in an area just behind pectoral; 

 other scales of body with 5 to 7 ridges, some strongly divergent, others 

 nearly parallel, the ridges with a few weak spines in the two larger 

 specimens, but well armed with imbricating spines in the smallest 

 one ; scales on opercle and top of head similar to those on tail, becom- 

 ing smaller on the snout, suborbital region, and the cheeks ; gular and 

 branchiostegal membranes scaleless. Lateral line with a very wide 

 surface groove, and with widely spaced pores, about one-fourth as 

 numerous as the scale rows on the trunk. 



First dorsal spine minute and concealed ; the second spine nearly 

 as long as the head, compressed, and ending in an extremely fine fila- 

 ment, its anterior edge trenchant, and armed with about 32 weak, 

 recumbent serrations, except on the proximal and distal ends; first 

 soft ray 1.8 in head; last 2 or 3 rays simple. Pectoral long and wide 

 in the two larger specimens, as shown in Giinther's figure, the first 

 ray a short spine; the second compressed, stiff, unbranched, and in- 

 articulate, 1.6 in head; the third and longest ray unbranched, 1.2; 

 pectoral in the smallest specimen longer and narrower, the second 

 ray weaker and less strongly compressed, 1.2 in the head, the third 

 ray 1.07 times the length of the head. Outer ventral ray strengthened 

 and greatly produced, nearly twice the length of the head in the 

 smallest specimen (broken near tip). 



Color uniform brown, blackish on mandibiles and branchiostegal 

 membranes; fins dusky; buccal, branchial, and peritoneal cavities 

 with a black lining, excepting the narrow interrupted whitish mar- 

 gin of the branchial cavity along the inner edge of the opercle. 



Table of measurements in hundredths of length to anus (148 mm.), 

 of a specimen 552 mm. long, from Albatross station 4956. 



Length of head, 65; length of orbit, 15; least interorbital width, 

 15; least suborbital width, 5.8; distance between orbit and margin 



1 Described as uniserial in the lower jaw by Gtinther. 



