TRACHICHTHYS MENTO. 59 
small, in villiform bands on the jaws, larger forward, in a small group on the 
vomer, and in narrow series on the palatines. Nostrils small, close together, 
immediately in front of the eye, anterior smaller. Eyes small, less than one 
fifth of the head length, shorter than the snout, equal to their distance 
from the mouth. Membranes covering the vessels of the lateral system be- 
tween the prominent ridges at their sides very thin; disks approximating 
those of Hoplostethus pacificus, Plate LX XL, fig. 4. An angle of some promi- 
nence below the angular, another on the angle of the preopercle. Gills 
four ; lamellz short; rakers nine plus fifteen, longest equal the length of the 
eye, slender and sharp, rough on the edges; membranes hardly united, free 
from the isthmus; hinder edges of gill covers very thin. Pseudobranchize 
well developed. Scales mostly small, irregular, and rough with small spines, 
in fifty-eight to sixty or more series from head to tail and about twenty- 
eight from back to belly; those of the lateral system three times as wide as 
long, about twenty-eight in the series, deeply notched on the middle of the 
hinder edge. Individual variation in regard to the scales is shown on Plate 
XI. figs. 4 to 6; on some specimens a median line of large scales is pres- 
ent between the ventrals and the anal, somewhat as in most species of 
Trachichthys, but on others the variations lead to those on which the 
median series is quite undifferentiated. Fourteen pyloric ceca. Females 
of five and one half inches in length contain immense numbers of mature 
eggs. 
Dorsal origin midway from snout to base of caudal, length of base equal 
to its distance from the front edge of the eye. Origin of the anal near a 
vertical from the tenth ray of the dorsal, end of the base opposite that of the 
dorsal. Bases of the pectorals little forward of the base of the dorsal. In- 
sertion of the ventrals slightly forward of that of the pectorals. Caudal 
peduncle narrow, twice as long as deep. 
In life this fish was probably rose-colored, with more or less of purple on 
the scaly portions ; alcoholic specimens are brown tinged with purple on the 
body and whitish or yellowish on the head and fins; some individuals are 
blackish on the opercular regions and at the sides of the abdomen; linings 
of the body cavity blackish. 
Station. Latitude, Longitude. Depth. Temperature. Bottom. 
3384 TP BAS SOU ANG 79° 14’ W. 458 fathoms 42° F. Gn. s. 
3394 7° Q1'N. 79° 35’ W. 511 sé 41.8° F. Dk. gn. m. 
3396 7°: 32' N. 78° 36’ 30” W. 259 « 47.49 F. Hrd. gy. m. s. 
