HOLCOMYCTERONUS DIGITTATUS. 163 
nape, and tapers to slender in the tail. Head massive, deeper than wide, 
convex on the crown, covered by scales. Snout short, broad, thick, blunt. 
Mouth large, anterior; intermaxillary forming the upper border. Teeth 
sinall, equal, very numerous, in wide villiform bands on jaws, vomer, pala- 
tines, basibranchials, and pharyngeals. Nostrils small, lateral, in front of the 
eye, with a groove, in which there are sensory papille, from the hinder part 
of the anterior nostril down and forward to the lip. Eyes small, lateral, with- 
out an orbital fold. A large, strong, horizontally directed opercular spine ; 
no other spines on the head. Gill openings wide ; membranes not united, 
free from the isthmus. Gills four, a slit behind the fourth; laminz short ; 
rakers well developed, numerous. Pseudobranchiz small. Branchiostegal 
rays eight. An air bladder. Pectoral fins intermediate in form between 
those of Neobythites and those of Dicrolene, some of the lower rays be- 
ing free for a considerable portion of the length. Ventrals small, a short 
distance apart, at the humeral symphysis, each composed of two distinct 
rays. Vertical fins united; dorsal and anal very long; caudal narrow. 
Scales small, thin. Lateral line rudimentary or absent. 
Holcomycteronus digittatus sp. n. 
Plate XXXVI. fig. 1; Plate LXXVI. fig. 2, Lat. Syst. 
Br. r. 8; D. 105-121; A. 89-106; V. 2; P. 16-17; C. 8; Ll. 129-147; 
Ltr. 15 + 21. 
In the specimen described the total length is fourteen inches; the depth 
of the body or the length of the head is about one sixth of the total. Form 
stout, massive anteriorly, compressed, tapering regularly to become very 
slender near the caudal fin. Head broad, depressed, crown convex, nape 
high. Snout broad, blunt, two and one half times as long as the eye, like 
the balance of the head covered with scales. Mouth large, wide, anterior ; 
jaws nearly equal, lower included. Intermaxillary separating the maxillary 
from the edge of the mouth. Mavxillaries long, reaching one diameter of 
the eye farther backward than the orbit, scaly in the posterior half, broader 
than the eye at the hind extremity. Teeth small, equal, in broad villiform 
bands on jaws, palatines, vomer, and basibranchials. Palatine and _basi- 
branchial bands wide; vomerine broadly V-shaped with the branches back- 
ward and somewhat curved outwards. Eye small, two and one half times 
in the length of the snout, three and one half times in the width of the in- 
