433 



Add to p. 19 of Volume I. :— 



6«. MELAMPHAES. 



Metopias, Loice, Proc. Zool. 8oc. Is4:i, p. 90. 



mt^'^-i/f'^" and thick with nearly all the superficial bones modified 

 mto wide muciferous channels. Cleft of the mouth of moderate 

 i^froif r. ^ descending backwards, with the jaw. nearly equal 

 in front. Eye small. A narrow band of villiform teeth in both the 

 fer. n'S barbT'"'"" fght branchiostegals ; pseudobranchi^ p e- 

 sent , no barbels ; opercles not armed. Scales large, cycloid rather 

 irregularly arranged. One dorsal; ventrals with seven rays ; iuda 

 torked ; anal spines very feeble. '^"^ai 



Deep-sea fishes off the Island of Madeira. 



The name Aletopias is preoccupied by several genera of insects 

 by one of birds, and by one of reptiles. ' 



1. Melamphaes typhlops. 



3Ietopias typhlops, Lowe, I. c. and 1850, p. 251. 

 B. 8. D.i. A.|. p. 15. V.1/7. L.lat.25. L. transv. 7. 



.nS^ ?r^!f '^f?^ ""^ *^^ ^^'^5^' ^^^°^ t^« °"gi° «f the dorsal fin, 

 f^l ^.^^^^^tb below the occiput, and is rather more than one^ 

 fourth of the total length (without caudal) ; the length of the head 

 bemg one-thii-d. The head is but Httle compressed, but higher than 

 broad, and longer than high; the snout is very obtuse, with the 

 ower jaw scarcely projecting beyond the upper ; maxillary extending 

 to behind the vertical from the posterior ma;gin of the eye • eye 

 small Its diameter being one-sixth of the length of the head, and 

 two-thii-ds of that of the snout ; crown of the head very convex 

 divided by ridges (which are angularly bent) into a centrafrhomboid 

 portion and into a pair of lateral ones : the skin extenchng from 

 ndge to ridge, and covering the muciferous channels, is finely and 

 longitudinally plaited, and pierced at regular intervals by very small 

 pores ihe operculum has a membranaceous margin- the '-ill- 

 membrane perfectly free from the isthmus, and not united ^^■ith That 

 ot the other side : there are four perfect gills, but the pseudobranchiie 

 are small. Head entirely scaleless. 



The distance between ^the origin of the dorsal fin and the end of 

 tne snout is nearly equal to that between the dorsal and caudal fins • 

 Its spines are very feeble, gradually increasing in length behind, the 

 second soft ray being the longest, but much shorter than the base of 

 tne nn. ihe anal fin is small, with the spines ven- feeble : and there 

 are not more than two in the specimen from which this descrii)tion 

 IS taken, whilst ilr. Lowe says that he has found four spines in the 

 hrst specimen which was discovered. The base of the anal fin is 

 TOL. V. ,, ^. 



