52 DEEP SEA FISHES. 
moderate depth. Mouth wide, rising but little forward; maxillary broad 
and truncate posteriorly, extending to or little beyond a vertical from the 
hind border of the orbit. Tongue broad, pointed in front, free at the 
edges. Teeth in villiform bands which, anteriorly on the jaws, end in large 
rounded bunches; Plate VII., figs. 2 and 3, shows the arrangement of the 
teeth on the jaws and the palate. Nostrils small, nearer to the eye than to 
the end of the snout; anterior smaller, with a short tube and a long, fringed 
dermal filament. Suprabranchial gland vertically elongate and grooved, 
Four gills, a short slit behind the fourth; lamellze of medium length; gill 
rakers five plus eight, with several rudiments, longest one fourth as long as 
the eye, club-shaped. Pseudobranchiz large. Scales of medium size, 
ctenoid, on large specimens bearing dermal filaments, Plate VII., fig. 1. 
The spines of the crown and of the dorsal fin also have filaments in many 
cases. The pore-bearing scales of the lateral line are modified, the tube 
being raised above the scale so as to form a longitudinal ridge along the 
flank. Cheeks, snout, top of head, and upper portions of maxillaries 
covered with small scales, mandibles and chin naked. 
Dorsal origin above the upper angle of the gill opening, forward of 
the bases of the pectorals, spines toward the soft rays shorter; third spine 
on many of the specimens much longer than the second or the fourth, 
half as long as the head, on other individuals it is hardly longer than the 
spines at each side of it. This long spine is present on specimens of 
two and three-eighths inches in length, in one case both the second 
and third spines are long; and on others much longer, the third spine 
is short. Possibly the difference is sexual, but this cannot be deter- 
mined from the material at hand. While apparently there are no differ- 
ences that may be seized upon as varietal or specific in the specimens 
from different stations, they yet group themselves in some degree when 
compared; thus all taken at depths from 66 to 112 fathoms have the 
elongate third dorsal spine, but seventeen from depths of 127 to 210 
fathoms have only the short form of the same spine. Inference from 
this is impeded by the fact that in a lot of five specimens from a depth 
of 182 fathoms there are three that have a long third dorsal spine, while 
on the other two that spine is short. On each of several individuals 
there are thirteen spines in front of the soft rays of the dorsal. Pectorals 
broad, pointed; rays simple, more or less prolonged beyond the mem- 
branes. Second spine of the anal much stronger and larger than the 
