"2 DEEP SEA FISHES. 
The lateral line approximates a parallel with the edge of the back; it 
rises somewhat abruptly above the bases of the pectorals, descends similarly 
at the caudal pedicel, and curves slightly above and behind the erectile 
spine. 
The colors of a fresh specimen are shown on Plate I’, fig. 2. On 
alcoholic specimens the snout and chin, to a line joining the forehead above 
the forward part of the eye with a point midway from the lower jaw to the 
ventral fins, are light flesh color; behind this the forehead and the nape to 
the upper part of the orbit are black, and below this black area there is a 
broad band of silver descending quite across the side obliquely backward to 
include the base of the pectoral and the vent. Posteriorly from the silver 
band the body is of a somewhat deeper flesh color. On the tail there is 
a V-shaped mark of brown with the apex forward at the base of the erectile 
spine on the side, and behind this mark on the bases of the caudal rays 
there is a narrow transverse band of brown. Most specimens have a narrow 
edging of brown on the hind margin of the caudal, and a spot of brownish 
at the base of each ray of the anal fin. 
Total length one and one-sixteenth inches, 
Taken off the Cocos Islands at the surface. 
TRACHINOIDS. 
In the deep sea portion of the collection there are but two species 
belonging to this group, and these represent genera of very different habits. 
One of them is an uranoscopoid from the bottom, and the other a chiasmo- 
dont, affecting levels at a distance from the floor of the sea. The first of 
these, Kathetostoma, properly belongs with the shore fishes, but the records 
show it to have been taken at depths ranging from several to 210 fathoms. 
The second of them, Chiasmodon, is the genus in the group to which the 
greatest depth is assigned, 1,500 fathoms, by Giinther, in the “ Challenger ” 
report. It was taken by the “Investigator” in 920 fathoms, and by the “ Alba- 
tross” in 919. In the “ Three Cruises of the ‘ Blake,” A. Agassiz, 1888, II., 
p- 29, it is remarked of Chiasmodon niger that ‘‘ most of the specimens known 
have been collected at the surface, and there seems to be a reasonable proba- 
bility that this genus inhabits intermediate depths, since mid-depth fishes 
only have been found in its stomach.” There is nothing in the appearance 
or the structure of the species described below to indicate that it differs in 
