[41] CATALOGUE OF THE FISHES OF NORTH AMERICA. 



Family XLVl.— HALOSAUEID^.i 

 126.— HALOSAURUS Giiutbor. 



488. Halosaiirus macrocMr Giluther. 13. 



Family XLVll.— STOMIATIDJi:. (45) 



127.— STOMIAS Cnvier. (134) 



489. Stomias ferox Reinharclt. B. (470) 



128— HYPERCHORISTUS^' Gill. 



490. Hyperchoristus tauneri Gill. B. 



'Family HALOSAURID^. 



Body elongate, compressed posteriorly, tapering into a very long and slender tail, 

 "which becomes compressed and narrowed into a sort of filament. Abdomen rounded. 

 Scales rather small, cycloid, deciduous. Sides of head scaly; lateral line present, 

 running along the sides of the belly, its scales, in the known species, enlarged, each 

 in a pouch of black skin with a phosphorescent organ at its base. No barbels. Head 

 subconical, depressed anteriorly, the flattened snout projecting beyond the mouth. 

 Mouth inferior, horizontal, of moderate size, its anterior margin formed by the pre- 

 maxillaries, its lateral margin by the maxillaries, which are of moderate width. 

 Teeth small, in villiform bauds, on the jaws, vomer, palatines, and tongue. Eye 

 rather large. Facial bones with large muciferous cavities. Preopercle produced 

 behind in a large flat process, "replacing the sub- and interoperculum." Bones of 

 head unarmed. Gills 4, a slit behind the fourth. Pseudobranchiai none. Gill-rakers 

 short. Gill membranes separate, free from the isthmus. Branchiostegals numerous 

 (about 14). Dorsal fin short, rather high, inserted behind ventrals and befoie vent. 

 No adipose fin; no caudal fin. Anal fin extremely long, extending from the vent ta 

 the tip of the tail (its rays about 200 in number). Ventrals moderate, not very far 

 back. Pectorals rather long, narrow, inserted high. No axillary scales. Air blad- 

 der large, simple. Stomach ca'cal ; i)yloric ca^ca in moderate number; intestines 

 short. Ovaries closed. No phosphorescent spots. A single genus,* with about 5 

 species; fishes of the deep sea. {Halomuridce Glinther, VII, 482.) 



Halosaurus Johnson. 



(Johnson, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1863, 406 ; ty^te Halosavrus oweni, Johnson, from 

 Madeira). Characters of the genus included above., ("yJA?, sea; 6avpo?, Wznrd.) 



Halosaurus viacrockir Giiuther. 



Everywhere blackish, the color nearly uniform. Snout modeiate, its length from 

 mouth 7 in length of head ; eye small, 7^ in head, 2 in interorbital space. Length of 

 head slightly greater than its distance from ventral. Maxillary reaching vertical 

 from front of eye ; its length from tip *f snout 2i in head. Insertion of dorsal en- 

 tirely behind the ventrals. Ventrals midway between i^reopercle and front of anal, 

 their length 2| in head. Pectorals nearly reaching ventrals, li in head. Base of dorsal 

 2^ in head, its longest ray 2. B. 12. D 1, 10, or 11, V. 9. Deep waters of the At- 

 lantic ; not rare in the Gulf Stream. 



(Gunther, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1878, 251 ; Goode & Bean, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 

 1882, 219. Halosaurus goodd Gill, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1883, 257.) 



2 Hyperchorist'JS Gill. 



(Gill, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1883, 256; type, Hyperchoristus tanneri Gill.) 



" Stomiatids, with a robust claviform body, naked skin, teeth on the jaws nearly 

 uniserial, but in several groups, of which the successive teeth (about 4) rapidly 



