44, STOMIATID^ ASTRONESTHES. 287 



body. Series of pliospliorescent dots along tlie lower side of the head, 

 body, and tail. Gill-openings very wide. Gill-rakers minute. No psendo- 

 branchiie. No air-bladder. Atlantic, (e^^r, a viper; <7rw,aa, mouth.) 



47 B. E. barbatuni Lowe. 



Black, with an elongate, club shaped (phosphorescent) rose-colored 

 spot between the maxillary and the eye. Barbel as long as head (in 

 specimens seen), fringed at its tip. "Upper ray of pectoral produced in 

 a long and slender iilanieut reaching nearly to the root of the ventrals" 

 (wanting in si^ecimens examined). Ventrals narrow, elongate. Head C 

 in length ; depth 0. B. 12; D. 12-15; A. 17; P. 3-5; V. 8. L. 9 inches. 

 Deep waters of the Atlantic; lately taken off Gloucester, Mass. 



(Lowe, Proc. Zoiil. Soc. Lond. 1843, 88; Giintlier, x. 427 ; Goode & Beau, Bull. Essex. 

 Inst. 1879, 23.) 



136.— MAI.ACOS'ffEUS Ayres. 



(Ayres, Journ. Best. Soc. Nat. Hist. 1849, 53: typo Malncostens niger Ayrcs.) 



Bodj^ elongate, comi)ressed, scaleless. Head rather compressed, the 

 snout very short, the cleft of the month very wide, extending to behind 

 the root of the pectorals. Teeth iwinted, unequal, in single series on 

 botli jaws and tongue; none on the palate. Opercula membranaceous. 

 Dorsal far back, opposite anal. Pectorals rudimentary. Ventrals 

 rather posterior. One species known. {na?.ay.6^, soft; vazzo-^, bone.) 



4'5'2. M. iiigcr Ayres. 



Black, with a white loral spot. Snout very short, convex. Lower 

 jaw with very long canines. Barbel long and slender. Pectoral rays 

 coalescing into a thin, long filament. Ventrals filamentous. Head 3^ 

 with cau<lal; depth 0. D. 10; A. 20; P. 5; V. G. North Atlantic; a 

 single specimen known. (Ayres.) 



(AjTes, 1. c. ; Guntlicr, vi, 427.) 



137.— AS'D^ROMESTHES Kichardson. 

 (Richardson, Iclitli. Voy. Sulpli. 97, 1815: typu AHironeaihts nifjra Rich.) 



Body rather elongate, compressed, scaleless. Head compressed, the 

 snout short, the mouth wide. Teeth i)ointed, unequal. Upper jaw with 

 four long, curved canines; lower with two; maxillary teeth fine, sub- 

 equal; palatines with a single series of small, i)ointed teeth, similar to 

 those on tongue. Eye moderate. Throat with a barbel. Dorsal fin 

 long, inserted in front of anal, behind ventrals; adipose fin present; 

 caudal forked ; paired fins well developed. Gill-rakers minute. No pseu- 

 dobranchiic. No air-bladder. Lower parts with i)hosphorescent spots. 

 (aarpnv, Star (star- fish); effOcw, to eat.) 



