294 DEEP-SEA PISHES OF THE ATLAXTIC BASIN. 



loiij;-. Caudal not forked, rectoial tius with broad, oblique ba.ses, the lower rays rapidly 

 shortened, most of theiu branched. Veutrals Jugular, close togetlier, i, '>, the si)iiie very 

 short, the innermost rays the longest. Air-bladder geuei'ally absent. Pyloric ca^ca in mod- 

 erate number. 



URANOSCOPUS, Linnaeus. 



UranoKcopus, Linn/eiis, Systems Natura?, ed. x, 1758, i, 250. — Cuvier, R6gne Animal, od. i, 1817, ii, 301. — 

 C'uviEK and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., m. 285. — Guntuek, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., ii, 220. 



Head large, broad, partly covered with bony plates ; body somewhat cylindrical ; cleft 

 of the mouth vertical; eye on the upper side of the head. Scales very small. Two dorsals, 

 the first with three to five spines; veutrals jugular; pectoral rays branched. Villiform 

 teeth in the jaws, on the vomer, and palatine bones, without canines; generally a filament 

 below and before the tongue; ox)ercular apparatus generally armed; cavity of the gills with 

 an opening above the operculum as well as posteriorly. Pseudobranchi*; six branchios- 

 tegals. Air-bladder none ; pyloric appendages in moderate number. {Giinther.) 



Uranoscopus crassiceps, Alcock, a species with an immense infiated head (Auu. and Mag. 

 Nat. Hist., 18!)(>, ii, 205), was taken by the InvexiUjator in the Bay of Bengal at station 90, in 

 98-102 ftithoms. One of the 25 sjjecimens captured had in its stomach 7 specimens of Scop- 

 elus pierotus. It is very possibly a resident beyond the hundred-fathom line. 



Family BATRACHID^^. 



liairaelMw, Swainson, Nat. Hist. Fish, etc., 1831), II, 181, 282.— GOntuek, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., ill, 166.— 

 Gill, Arr. Fam. Fish., 1872, 5 (No. 41). — Jordan and Gilbert, Bull, xvi, U. S. Nat. Mus., 750. 

 Body depressed in front, comjiressed behind; head large, depressed, with unarmed 

 cheeks and with ('onspicuous muciferous channels. Teeth strong. Premasillaries protrac- 

 tile. Gills 3, a slit behind the last. Pseudobranchiie none. Gill-openings lateral, witli 

 membranes broadly united to isthmus. Gill-rakers present, moderate. Suborbital without 

 bony stay; post-temporal bone simple, undivided; scales small, cycloid, or wanting. Dor- 

 sal fins two, the first of 2 or 3 low, stout .spines; soft dorsal elongate aud similar to anal, 

 but shorter. Veutrals jugular, rather large (i, 2 or i, 3). Pectorals very broad, the rays 

 branched; i)yloric ca3ca none. Caudal distinct, rounded. 



GenLis PORICHTHYS, Girard. 



PoHchthys, Giraud, Proc. Acad. Nat. Soi. Phila., 1854, 141. — Gunther. op. cit., 175. — Jord.\n and Gilbert, 

 op. cil., 751. 



Body cottiform. Head rather broad, depressed, the lower jaw projecting; mouth wide 

 with conical teeth in jaws, aud a canine ou either side of vomer; operculum with single 

 spine. Skin naked, with several series of distinct mucous pores. Spinous dorsal with 2 

 minute spines. Pectoral broad. Branchiostegals vi. Air bladder in two lateral parts. 

 Vertebne 11-f 31. {Jordan and Gilbert.) 



PORICHTHYS POROSISSIMUS, (Cuv. & Val.), Gunther. (Figure 267.) 



Butrachiisporosissimiis, Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xii, 501. 

 I'orkhthijx porosissimiis, GiJNTHER, op. cit., iii, 176. — Jordan and Gilbert, toe. cit. 



Depth of body one-sixth of its total length. Head narrowed anteriorly, its length 

 3g-4.J ill total length. Head with several rows of fringed pores; 2 concentric series on the 

 abdomen, the outer extending forwards between bases of veutrals. Ventrals reaching 

 bases of pectorals. Pectorals reach to vertical from sixth anal ray. Caudal not half as 

 long as head. Color olive-brown above, with copiwry retlections, tlie belly bras.sy-yellow; 

 sides with irregular broad, vertical cross-blotches, most distinct in the young; dorsal gray- 

 ish with oblique dark bars; vertical fins sometimes margined with black; pores of lateral 

 lines bead-like, shining silvery; a white space below eye, with a black crescent below it. 



Radial formula: D. ll, 37; A. 33; V. I, 2; P. 18. 



This form, well known on the western coasts of tropical America, occurs in deep water in 



