330 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



191 1, p. loi, PI. V. fig. 5) had described a deep sea berycoid fish under 

 the name of Platyheryx opalescens (Plate LV, upper figure). This 

 fish strongly resembles Caristiiis japonicus . Mr. C. Tate Regan 

 (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (8), Vol. X, Dec, 191 2, p. 637, compared 

 Platyberyx to Caristius and expressed the belief that both are berycoid 

 fishes, "probably congeneric and perhaps not specifically distinct from 

 each other." 



I now think Mr. Regan is right in aligning Caristius with the 

 berycoid fishes. In Caristius as in Platyberyx, there are numerous 

 short, stiff rays, or fulcra, at the base of the caudal'fin both above and 

 below. There are only about sixteen developed rays in the caudal 

 fin, and the presence of but I, 5 rays in the ventral fins in both, is not 

 decisive, as some of the varied genera referred to the berycoid group, 

 notably Bathyclupea, show the same number. 



I was mistaken, however, in placing Pteraclis niacropus in the genus 

 Caristius, and in taking my idea of Caristius from that species. I was 

 quite right, I think, in rejecting the idea of berycoid afifinities for 

 P. niacropus. In spite of superficial resemblance, P. fnacropus has 

 really very little in common with Caristius or Platyberyx. It has no 

 true fulcra on the caudal fin and the slender rays of that fin are more 

 than twenty in number. Moreover all the rays of the dorsal fins are 

 slender, unjointed spines. The species is, in fact, allied to the Pter- 

 aclidcc and forms the type of a new genus which I may call Elepheyior} 

 But its divergence from the known genera of Pteraclidcc is very strong, 

 entitling it, I think, to distinction, as representing a separate family. 

 For the present at least, we consider it as belonging to a new family, 

 Elephenoridce, distinguished by its small, weak scales, and its relatively 

 short anal fin. 



In the type of Caristius japonicus the dorsal and anal rays are 

 nearly all broken off short, and it is impossible from the plate to know 

 whether any or all of them were spines. The dorsal fin is elevated in 

 front and the numbers of the rays are about as in Elephcnor. 



In Platyberyx the dorsal and anal fins are scarcely elevated, and 

 the rays are nearly all jointed and branched, the numbers being 

 D. II. 28; A. II, 16. In Platyberyx, as in Caristius and Elephenor the 

 ventral fins are well developed, their rays I, 5. The difference in the 

 form of the dorsal fin would seem to indicate that Platyberyx is generi- 

 cally distinct from Caristius. 



1 EXe0i7J'wp, chief of the fleet Abantes of EubcEa, "with long hair flowing 

 behind," captain of one of the ships of Achilles. 



