166 " ENDEAVOUR " SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



length, and slightly short ei- than the fifth pectoral ray. 

 Depth of caudal peduncle rather greater than the length of 

 the eye. 



The general form varies in different specimens according to 

 their condition, but in a well-preserved example it is de- 

 pressed as shown in the accompanying figure ; the ventral 

 surface is almost flat. Maxillary not reaching backwards to 

 the verticle of the anterior margin of the eye. Nostrils placed 

 a little above the level of the middle of the eye ; the anterior 

 is tubular, the posterior a simple opening. Gill-opening 

 situated beneath the fifth or sixth dorsal ray. Each jaw with 

 a band of villiform teeth. There are also two patches on the 

 vomer, and one on each palatine of still smaller teeth. 



Head and body covered with soft, loose skin, which is 

 thickly beset with upstanding spinules ; their bases are 

 usually enveloped in the skin, and they are much more minute 

 on the ventral surface than elsewhere. The lateral line 

 system is as usual in the genus, consisting of deep, smooth 

 channels, partially biidged at regular intervals by overlapping 

 spinular scales ; the latter almost meet from either side, and 

 protect minute pores beneath them. A channel commences 

 on either side of the snout and extends backwards to behind 

 the eye, whence it bends downwards, and continuing back- 

 wards sweeps down behind the gill opening to the latero- 

 inferior surface of the tail ; it is lost on the base of the third 

 lower caudal ray. Another groove joins the first on the upper 

 surface of the snout and descends first onto the maxillary 

 and then backwards along the middle of the cheek ; it gives 

 off two incomplete branches below and one above, which 

 connects with the corresponding one of the other side across 

 the back, by means of several widely-spaced pores. A third 

 series commences below the chin and runs downwards to the 

 latero -inferior edge of the body ; it is lost above the base of 

 the pectoral fin. The margins of the grooves on the lower 

 parts of the body and tail are more or less thickly beset with 

 white dermal filaments. Others may be present on the lower 

 lip, chin, and sides of the tail. 



First dorsal spine short and thick, with a more or less 

 fimbriate apex ; it can be depressed into a smooth, somewhat 

 circular hollow between the anterior margins of the eyes. 

 Second dorsal spine entirely hidden beneath the skin ; its 

 position is indicated by a swelling on the middle of the back. 

 Anterior dorsal ray very small and almost hidden in the skin ; 

 the others increase in length to the sixth and then gradually 

 decrease again. They are mostly simple, but the posterior 

 ones may be divided ; the two last are placed very close 



