344 DEEP-SEA FISHKS OF THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



BELLOTTIA APODA, Giglioli. 



Belloitia ajwda, GlOLlOM, Zoologisclier Auzeiffer, vi, b99. 



The vent eciuidistaiit from the tip of the snout and root of the tail. Dorsal origin in 

 the vertical from the middle of the j)ectorals, confluent with the caudal and the anal, i'ec 

 torals normal and small. Body covered with mucous pores particularly consi)icuous upon 

 tiie head. Anal papilla sometimes j)resent. Lateral line simple, slightly arched over the 

 l)ectorals, straight and median posteriorly. Two cutaneous folds i^arallel to the base of 

 the dorsal. The central rays of the caudal are the longest. 



Kadial formula (estimated) : D. 90; A. 75; O. 12. 



Color, olive gray, with minute dots of black; lins black at the base, colorless and 

 transparent elsewhere. 



The two tyi)es measure 28 lo 30 millimeters. Five specimens of this form were taken 

 in tlie net in the Gulf of Naples in December, 1882, at the depth of .30 meters. Two of 

 them (the types of this description) are in the Italian collection of the Royal Zoological 

 INIuseum at Florence; two more in the Museo Civico at Milan; the filth in the Zoological 

 Station in Naples. 



Although not yet found at considerable depths, its affinities, in the opinion of Giglioli 

 and Vineiguerra, appear to be with the family BrotuUda; and the genus is admitted to this 

 work not only for the purpose of comparison, but iu the belief that it will eventually be 

 fovxnd in deep water. 



HEPHTHOCARA, Aleock. (Fignrf 301.) 

 Hephthocara, Aleock, Ann. and Mag. N.at. Hist., 1892, 319. (Type, H. simiim, loc. cit., pi. xviil, fig. 1.) 



Head large, with thin, smooth, uncrested bones, scaleless. No armature but a weak 

 opercular spine. Body compressed, tapering, covered with deciduous cycloid scales. Eye 

 moderate. Snout not overhanging the jaws. Mouth with obliquely ascending cleft, and 

 with the lower jaw prominent. Villiform teeth in the jaws, palatines, and vomer. No 

 barbel orhyoid filaments. Gill-ojienings wide; gillmembranessei)arate, 4 gills; no pseudo- 

 branchiie; 8 branchiostegals. Lateral line indistinguishable. Vertical fins confluent; 

 pectoral fins entire; no ventral fins. 



The type. If. ,«>«»»(, was described from an immature specimen, 8 inches long, taken 

 by the Investigator off the Goromandel coast, in 902 fathoms. 



LAMPROGRAMMUS, Alcoek. (Figure 302.) 

 Lamprogrnmmus, Aixock, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vili, 1891, 32. 



Head large, body compressed, both entirely covered with thin, smooth, deciduous 

 scales of moderate size. Head bones with prominent crest and wide, muciferous cavities, 

 unarmed except for a weak opercular spine. Snout not overhanging the jaws. Eye of 

 moderate size. Mouth large; teeth in villiform bands in the jaws, i>alatines, and vomer. 

 No barbel or hyoid filaments. Gill-opening wide; gill-membranes separate; 4 gills, 8 

 braiu-hiostegals, no psendobranchiiP. Lateral line very conspicuous, with nuich enlarged 

 scales, each of which bears a glandidar (luminous) organ. Vertical fins confluent; pectoral 

 fins entire; no ventral fins. (Alcocl:) 



This genus is represented by the single species, Lamprogrammns nigcr, Alcoek {loc. cit., 

 fig. 2), desci'ibed from two specimens, llf and 15 inches in length, obtained by the Invcxti- 

 gaior in the Andaman Sea, at a depth of 561 fathoms, and another from 404 fathoms in 

 the same region. Alcoek says of it: "This extraordinary form seems almost entitled to 

 rank by itself in a separate .subfamily of the OphiiUidw. In general appearance and in 

 most of its structural details it has the closest resemblance to the ty\Vn-,i\ Broiulina'; but 

 it ditters from them all in its remarkable Halomurm-hke lateral line and iu the entire 

 absence of ventral fins." 



