6. 8C0PELU8. 413 



e. Eye of moderate size, less than one-third of the length of the head. 

 a. Scales smooth, those of the lateral line much larger than the others. 



15. Scopelus coccoi. 



Scopelus coccoi, Cocco, in Giorn. Sicil. fasc. 77. p. 143, and Lett. s. 



Salmon, p. 18. tah. 2. fig. 6 ; Bonap. Faun. Ital. Peso. c. fig. 

 Alysia loricata, Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1839, p. 87, and Trans. Zool. 



Soc. iii. p. 14. 

 Myctophum hians, Richards, yoy. Ereb. ty Terr. Ichth. p. 41 . pi. 27. 



figs. 19-21 (eye too large). 

 ? Scopelus jagorii, Peters, Monatsber. Perl. Acad. 1859, p. 411. 



D. 10-12. A. 20-21. V. 8. L. lat. 41. L. transv. 1/3. 



The height of the body is nearly equal to the length of the head, 

 and rather more than one-fifth of the total (without caudal) ; tail 

 slender and elongate, its least depth being one-fourth of the height 

 of the body ; the depth of the head is contained once and three-fifths 

 in its length ; the diameter of the eye is one-fourth or somewhat less 

 than one-fourth of the length of the head ; the distance between the 

 posterior margin of the orbit and the praeopercular edge is two-thirds 

 of the diameter of the eye. Praeopercular edge obliquely descending 

 backwards. Snout conical, with the upper part projecting beyond the 

 lower, and with the upper and lower profiles nearly equally curved. 

 The maxillary reaches to the angle of the praeoperculum, and is 

 scarcely dilated. The origin of the dorsal fin is much nearer to the 

 end of the snout than to the root of the caudal, behind the base of 

 the ventral ; its last ray is in the vertical from the second or third 

 anal ray. The pectoral extends to the middle of the ventral. Scales 

 smooth, stiff; there are nine or ten scales between the adipose and 

 caudal fins ; and in some specimens each of the scales on the back of 

 the tail has a pearl-coloured dot. 



Mediterranean and Atlantic. 



The largest of our specimens are 2 inches long. 



a. Gulf of Guinea. 



b-c. Congo Expedition. 



d-e, f-g. North Atlantic. Presented by J. B. Godfrey, Esq. 



h-l. Atlantic. Erom Mr. Rouse's Collection. — (Caught plentifully at 



night throughout the Tropic of Cancer.) 

 m-n, o-s. Within the tropics. Presented by Lieutenant A. Smith. 

 t-u. Types of Myctophum hians. Presented by Sir J. Richardson. 

 v, w, x-z. Adult and half- grown. 



Having seen the typical example of Alysia loricata, Lowe, in the 

 Museum of the Philosophical Society of the University of Cambridge, 

 I cannot doubt its specific identity with Sc. coccoi. As regards the 

 serrature of the ventral and dorsal lines, Mr. Lowe justly remarks, 

 in a letter to me, that this character is due merely tc the accidental 

 protrusion of the tips of the bones through the flesh, as frequently 

 observed in subdecomposed examples of Scopelus. The scales also 

 of Alysia appeared to me to be as smooth as in Sc. coccoi. 



Myctophum coruscam (Richards. Voy. Ereb. & Terr. Fish. p. 40, 



