ATOPICHTHYS OBTUSUS. 337 
Atopichthys obtusus sp. n. 
Plate LX VIL. fig. 4, 4a. 
Body very narrow and deep, greatest depth near the middle, about 
one ninth of the total length, comparatively short, upper and lower out- 
lines curving with much regularity, body cavity entirely within the for- 
ward half of the total. Head small, short, nearly one twelfth of the entire 
length, wider than the neck, hardly as wide as deep, subconical, blunt 
at the end of the snout, arched above the orbits, crown convex trans- 
versely and slightly so longitudinally. Snout rounded, not sharp, one and 
one third times as long as the eye, one fourth as long as the head. Mouth 
large, extending backward of a vertical from the middle of the eye, jaws 
about equal. Eyes large, lateral, prominent, nearly one sixth as long as the 
head, iris silvery. Teeth subconical, very small. Nostrils small; posterior 
close in front of the middle of the eye; anterior tubular, near the end of 
the snout at the edge of the lip overhanging the mouth. Gill opening ver- 
tical, narrow, not as wide as the eye, forward of the base of the pectoral. 
Vent below the fiftieth muscular segment. Muscular segments fifty plus 
sixty-nine. 
Pectorals rather broad, twice as long as the orbit, about one third as long 
as the head, rounded on the hind margin. Vertical fins confluent, broaden- 
ing near the caudal, which latter is short and blunt. 
Translucent to transparent, with black pigment in a series of spots 
backward from the seventeenth or the eighteenth muscle-segment, close 
below the median line of the flank, to the tail— commonly one but some- 
times two spots on each segment, in a short series of four or five dots 
inside of each gill membrane on the throat, in a couple of irregular series 
below the intestine — more numerous backward, and in a line of faint dots 
to be seen along the bases of the anal rays. 
Total length four and three eighths, greatest depth one half, length of 
head three eighths, and snout to vent two and one eighth inches. 
Station. Latitude. Longitude. Depth. Temperature. Bottom, Time. 
3386 7° 33/12” N. 79° 17/15” W. 242 fathoms 48°F. Ene. gy. S. Mar. 8, 1891, 4" 54™ p.m. 
