ADDENDA. 433 



Add to p. 19 of Volume I. : — 



6 a. MELAMPHAES. 

 Metopias, Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1843, p. 90. 



Head large and thick, with nearly all the superficial hones modified 

 into wide muciferous channels. Cleft of the mouth of moderate 

 width, obliquely descending backw* rds, with the jaws nearly equal 

 in front. Eye small. A narrow band of villiform teeth in both the 

 jaws ; palate toothless. Eight branchiostegals , pseudobranchiae pre- 

 sent ; no barbels ; opercles not armed. Scales large, cycloid, rather 

 irregularly arranged. One dorsal ; ventrals with seven rays ; caudal 

 forked ; anal spines very feeble. 



Deep-sea fishes off the Island of Madeira. 



The name Metopias is preoccupied by several genera of insects, 

 by one of birds, and by one of reptiles. 



1. Melamphaes typhlops. 



Metopias typhlops, Lowe, L c. and 1850, p. 251. 

 B. 8. D.£. A.|. P. 15. V. 1/7. L. lat. 25. . L. transv. 7. 



The greatest depth of the body, below the origin of the dorsal fin, 

 equals the depth below the occiput, and is rather more than one- 

 fourth of the total length (without caudal) ; the length of the head 

 being one-third. The head is but little compressed, but higher than 

 broad, and longer than high ; the snout is very obtuse, with the 

 lower jaw scarcely projecting beyond the upper ; maxillary extending 

 to behind the vertical from the posterior margin of the eye ; eye 

 small, its diameter being one-sixtb of the length of the head, and 

 two-tlurds of that of the snout ; crown of the head very convex, 

 divided by ridges (which are angularly bent) into a central rhomboid 

 portion and into a pair of lateral ones : the skin extending from 

 ridge to ridge, and covering the muciferous channels, is finely and 

 longitudinally plaited, and pierced at regular intervals by very small 

 pores. The operculum has a membranaceous margin ; the gill- 

 membrane perfectly free from the isthmus, and not united with that 

 of the other side : there are four perfect gills, but the pseudobranchiae 

 are small. Head entirely scaleless. 



The distance between the origin of the dorsal fin and the end of 

 the snout is nearly equal to that between the dorsal and caudal fins ; 

 its spines are very feeble, gradually increasing in length behind, the 

 second soft rav being the longest, but much shorter than the base of 

 the fin. The anal fin is small, with the spines very feeble ; and there 

 are not more than two in the specimen from which this description 

 is taken, whilst Mr. Lowe says that he has found four spines i*- he 

 first specimen which was discovered. The base of the anal fin is 



vol. v. 2 ¥ 



