252 DEEP SEA FISHES. 
Taken in townets at the surface off the Cocos Islands. 
In the arrangement and position of the lateral series of spots there is some 
resemblance to what obtains in respect to the lanterns on certain scopeloids, 
but the spot in S. simulans is merely a spot and has not the structure of the 
lanterns. Though not properly to be classed with the lanterns it is quite 
possible that the spots may serve as lures to bring a lantern-bearing prey 
within reach, and it may be they give a hint as to the manner in which the 
lantern of the scopeloid has originated. These spots differ from the other 
groups of pigment on the body in that they are more fugitive in alcohol 
and are deeper in the tissues. 
Synodus acutus sp. n. 
Bro. li; D. 1A. dbs Vi.8% P23 Seales b—05—6) “Vert. o2)Cacc: 
pyl. 18-19. 
Subfusiform, acute anteriorly, slightly compressed and tapering gradually 
from the shoulders backward. Head small, narrowing forward; crown 
depressed, slightly concave, with a shallow groove on the interorbital space 
—narrower toward the snout; length four seventeenths of the total, width 
or depth half the length. Snout as long as the orbit, wider than long, 
pointed, slightly turned upward at the end. Mouth large; intermax- 
illary reaching half the orbital length backward of the eye. ‘Teeth small, 
slender, unequal, depressible, larger on the lower jaws, shaped somewhat 
like an arrow-head at the cusp, in narrow bands on jaws, palatines and 
at each side of the middle of the tongue. Anterior processes of the lower 
jaws prominent, forming the end of the snout. Eye large, one fourth as 
long as the head, orbit cutting the profile of the crown. Cheek with four 
rows of large scales. 
Dorsal origin midway from snout to adipose fin, very near the end of the 
anterior third of the total length; extreme length of the depressed fin 
equalling that of the ventrals; third ray as long as the head behind the eye. 
Pectorals shorter than the ventrals, three fifths as long as the head. Origin 
of the adipose fin above the sixth ray of the anal. Caudal deeply forked. 
Scales of the lateral line with a ridge, other scales faintly ridged to 
merely convex. a 
Back light grayish to grayish olive; flanks, below the lateral line, and 
sides of head yellowish to silvery; belly silvery; a row of about ten brown 
