3. MAL^COCEPHALtrS. 397 



1 . Malacocephalns laevis. 



Macroiirus Isevis, Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1843, p. 92. 



D. 14 I ca 200. A., ea 200. V. 8. 



The second dorsal ray slender, sraootii. Axil, ventrals, and the 

 region before the ventrals black. 

 Sea of Madeira. 



a Nineteen inches long. Presented by the Rev. R. T. Lowe. — Tvoe 



of the species. 

 b. Half-grown. Presented by J. Y. Johnson, Esq. 



Description. — Head large, rather short, somewhat compressed, two- 

 thirds as wide as high, its greatest depth being three-quarters of its 

 length. It is covered all over with minute rough scales and with a 

 tough skin, which barely allows the ridges of the skull to be visible 

 externally. The bones of the head too are very thin and fragile, 

 and scarcely projecting on the surface. The length of the head 

 equals the distance between the first and fortieth rays of the anal 

 fin. Snout short, obtuse, obliquely truncated anteriorly, one-half or 

 two-thirds as long as the diameter of the orbit, which is nearly one- 

 third of the length of the head. Cleft of the mouth lateral, wide, 

 oblique, the maxillary extending nearly to the vertical from the 

 posterior margin of the eye. Both jaws are armed with a series of 

 rather small widely-set teeth ; there is a second inner series of smaU 

 teeth in the upper jaw ; vomer smooth. Barbel very slender, nearly 

 as long as the eye. Nostrils close together, immediately before the 

 eye. InterorbHal space flattish, as wide as the orbit. 



Angle of the praeoperculum produced backwards, rounded ; oper- 

 culum with a short stiff spine pointing obliquely upwards ; there is 

 another small spine at a short distance above it, directed upwards", 

 and apparently belonging to the humerus. Suboperculum vertical, 

 intercalated between operculum and praeoperculum. Seven branchio- 

 stegals ; gill- membranes not attached to the isthmus, united by a 

 narrow cutaneous bridge. Gills four, a slit behind the fourth; pseudo- 

 branchiae none. The membrane coating the inner side of the gill- 

 cavity forms a fold fixed to the outer gill, by which a portion of the 

 cavity is separated. 



The depth of the body below the anterior dorsal equals the length 

 of the head, the snout not included. The trunk is very short, shorter 

 than the head, and the vent is situated in the vertical from the root 

 of the pectoral. The tail tapers to a very long and narrow band 

 so that the length of the head is rather less than one-sixth of the 

 total. 



The anterior dorsal commences in the vertical from the root of the 

 pectoral, and is at least twice as high as long, the length of its 

 second ray being two- thirds of that of the head ; the first ray is quite 

 rudimentary. The origin of the second dorsal is very indistinct, the 

 rays of its anterior portion being quite rudimentary and scarcely 

 visible ; its distance from the first dorsal appears to be equal to the 

 height of the latter. The rays in its posterior portion are more 



