MELAMPHAES FRONTOSUS. 67 
Dorsal origin behind the middle of the length of the body without the 
caudal. Anal origin on a vertical from the hinder end of the dorsal; base 
of anal little more than one third as long as that of the dorsal, equal in 
length to one third of its distance from the base of the caudal. Pectorals 
long, reaching backward of the anal origin. Ventrals below the bases of 
the pectorals, moderately elongate. 
Scales large, thin, deciduous, cycloid, concentrically striate. 
Deep black over the surface and on the linings of the body cavity, body 
probably with a purple or rusty tint in life. 
Station, Latitude. Longitude. Depth. Temperature. Bottom. 
3398 Me ais 80° 21’ W. 1573 fathoms 36° F. Green ooze. 
Melamphaés frontosus sp. n. 
De AST oe Wot Ss Pb. 4; Gl 30);7 Lin. 9. 
Shape resembling that of IMJelamphaés nigrofulvus, Plate D, fig. 2; dis- 
tinguished by a smaller eye, longer snout, larger mouth, larger dorsal 
and smaller scales. Moderately stout and compressed, depth little less 
than one fourth and width two elevenths of the length to the base of 
the caudal. Head massive, five twelfths of the distance from the snout 
to the base of the caudal, very convex on the top, blunt and rounded 
anteriorly, lower edges of the mandibles forming a moderately prominent 
longitudinal keel. Snout broad and deep, twice as long as the eye; chin 
longer, with a somewhat prominent angle at the symphysis. Nostrils small, 
about halfway from the eye to the end of the snout. Mouth wide, descend- 
ing obliquely backward; maxillary reaching little backward of a vertical 
from the hind border of the orbit. Teeth very small, equal, in a single 
series on each jaw. Eye small, about one eighth as long as the head, or 
one third as wide as the interorbital space. Skull thin and weak, with a 
serrate-edged expansion along each side of the crown and forward on the 
interocular area, another above each orbit and forward around the olfactory 
sac and thence backward below each eye, another above each maxillary, 
and two more below each mandible, the inner one of each pair forming 
part of the longitudinal median submental keel; preopercles with an 
anterior ridge bearing two spines behind the angle of the mouth, and a 
posterior ridge at the hinder edge bearing on the upper section about 
eight fine longitudinal ridges each ending in a point also about fifteen 
