MALTHOPSIS ERINACEA. 103 
Malthopsis erinacea sp. n 
Plate XIX. 
Br. r. 6; D. 5-6; A. 4; P. 12-13; C. 9. 
Compared with Malthopsis sparsa, Plate XVIII, this species has the 
disk broader and more rounded opposite the eyes, the snout overhangs 
the mouth more, is more pointed and extends forward instead of up, and 
there is a lack of the small slender spines amongst the broad striate- 
based tubercles. Body and head broad, much depressed, together forming 
a disk in which the opercles extend back along the sides of the body so 
that the vent is only about one length of the orbit farther back than 
the sides of the head, and in which, as viewed from above, the anterior 
and lateral outlines form more than half of an ellipse. Depth of disk 
three and one half times in its length, or three times in that of the head. 
Snout moderate, little longer than the lower jaws, the tip having the 
appearance of a single multispinous tubercle directed forward and but 
slightly upward, with a pair of strong tubercles at each side above the 
space between the eye and the nostril, deeply excavated below the ros- 
trum for the large trilobed protractile illictum. Behind the top the upper 
lobe of the esca has the appearance of being folded from each side to form 
a chamber from which a small fleshy point protrudes above the top of the 
lobe. The illicial esca in the species is one of the largest in the genus. 
Nasal sacs small, anterior; nostrils close together, in front of the eye, poste- 
rior larger, anterior with a short tube. Mouth rather small, oblique, not 
as wide as the distance across the orbits and the space between them. 
Teeth numerous, in villiform bands on jaws, vomer, palatines, tongue, and 
pharyngeals ; vomerine and palatine groups somewhat separated, the former 
broader and shorter. Cheeks concave and grooved below the eyes. Crown 
flat, a concavity above the snout. Orbits little longer than the snout. 
length equal to the width of the interorbital space, convergent forward, 
Subopercular process comparatively small, with four to six spines. Gills 
two, none on the first and fourth arches; rakers small, blunt, rounded, six 
on each of first and second arches; vill openings small, placed superiorly 
in the axilla, on a line joining the ends of the subopercular tubercles. 
Spines of the disk and tail harsh, tubercular, the larger with swollen bases, 
numerous striz and many spinules ; some of those along the sides of the 
