196 DEEP-SEA FISHES OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



It is 4-1 inches long to the biise of the middle caudal rays, it is more nearly related to 

 Icpidopoidcs than to any other si)ecies; in tact, it is not very closely related to any of the 

 others. If we may trust the flgiires and descriptions of T. lepUlopoidcs our new species has 

 a larger number of dorsal s[)ines and rays and a much smaller luimber of dorsal and anal 

 Unlets. T. lepidopoidcn is said to be uniform silvery, the back somewhat plumbeous and 

 the tins gray. Our species is uniformly purplish brown, the spinous dorsal, pectorals, ven- 

 trals, and inside of the mouth blackish. 



RUVETTUS, Cocco. 

 liureltiis, Cocco, Gioru. Soi. Sirilia, xlu, 1829, 2. — Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., PUila., 18(32, 12(5. 



IJody fusiform and somewhat elongated. First dorsal witli lessthan 25 spines. Spinous 

 dorsal coutinguous to the soft, variable. Pectorals equidisant trom the back and breast, or 

 nearer the latter. Abdomen keeled. Tail not keeled. Ventrals i, 5. Dorsal and anal 

 finlcts developed. Dorsal and anal tinlets 3. Lateral line obsolete. Skin witli bony, 

 oblirpie tubercles. 



There have been two supposedly distinct forms described, one tlie Ruvettus j^retiosus 

 from the eastern Atlantic and the ^Mediterranean, and one, the Tliijraites selwlaris of Poej', 

 from Cuba. It is probable that Dr. Giinther is right in believing them to be identical, al- 

 though no one except Poey has examined this accidental form, and the two have never been 

 placed side by side. 



Eutwttiis is no doubt similar in its habits to the closely-related Thyrsitops, which de- 

 cends below the hundred-fathom line. 



EUVETTUS PRETIOSUS, Cocco. (Figure 210.) 

 El Escolar. 



liuvcttus pretiosus, Cocco, in Giornale <li Scienzi* iier la Sicilia, xlii, 1829, 21; Nuov. Giorn. Lett. Pisa, fasc. 



L.xxiiL — BoNAPAKTE, Fauna Italica, Pe.sc, pi. xm. — Capello, Joru. Acad. Sci., Lisbon I, 260; Cat. 



Peixes, Portugal, 1880, 16.— Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1862, 126,— Poev, Synopsis, 363; Enumer- 



atio, 74.— SxEiNDAcnNER, Sitzb. Ak. Wise. Wicu., 1867, 102. 

 Thyrsitespretiosus, GtJNTnKR, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. ii, 1860, 351; Challenger Report, xxir, 268.— Canestrini, 



Pesci d' Italia, 189. — Giglioli, Elenco, 84. 

 Tetragonurua siiii2>lex, Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc, London, 1833, 143. 

 Aplurua simplex:, LowE, Trans. Zoijl. Soc, London, ii, p. 180. 

 liovclus Temminkii, Cantrainb, Gioru. Sci. et Litt. Pisa, 1883 (fide Poey.) 

 liovetlus Temminkii, Valenciennes, in Webb and Berthelot, Poiss. Canar., 52, plate. 

 Acanthodenna Temminlcii, Caxtraink, .Journ. Acad. Sci. et Belles-Lettres, Bruxelles, 1835, x, pi. i. 

 Thyrsiles acanlhoderma, LowK, Proc. Ziiol. Soc., London, 1839, 78. 

 Thijrsites scholaris, Poey, Memorias, Hist. Nat. Cuba, i. 1854, 372, pi. xxxil, fig. 1; 2-ii, p. 16; Repertorio 



Fis. Nat. Cuba., ii, 13. 



A Scombroid, with elongate, fusiform, somewhat compressed body; its height is equal 

 to one-sixth of its length (without caudal); the length of its head about one-fourth. Ab- 

 domen with a denticulated keel. Body covered with bony plates, remote from each other, 

 and armed with spines. No lateral line. The maxillary extends beyond the vertical from 

 the posterior margin of the orbit. Pii-st dorsal fin composed of 15 spines, 18 rays, and 2 

 separate flnlets ; the spinous portion received in a furrow. The second dorsal nearly simi- 

 lar and opposite. Two detached aiud finlets. Caudal strongly forked, the upper lobe the 

 largest. Color, above, blackish brown ; below, dull white, the bony scutes being whitish 

 in color. 



Kadialfornuila: D. xv+lS+l+l; A. 17+1+1; P.15; V. 1,5; C.l)+8; E. vn. 



This form, first described from the Mediterranean, occurs about Sicily; here it is so rare 

 at the present time that it does not appear to have a common name among the fishermen, 

 though Canestrini says that its flesh is delicious. Bonaparte refers to it as EoreWo, and 

 the fishermen of Catania call it Pcsci liuvetto. Dr. Anastasio Cocco first described it from 

 Messina. Giglioli has observed it at Genoa, Naples, Palermo, Malta, and Spalato (Dalma- 

 tia) and at Nice. It was subsequently found by Lowe at Madeira, and by Webb and Ber- 



