58 



mented) skin; above each eye is a prominent, coarse, procumbent spine. 

 Mouth moderately large, its cleft obliquely ascending ; the length of the maxilla 

 IS one-third that of the head ; a narrow band (?) of small teeth in each jaw and 

 on the vomer ; tongue large ; only the floor of the mouth pigmented. 



Gills 2; ; gill-opening a small circular aperture just beneath the root of the 



pectoral fin. 



Skin thin and perfectly smooth and scaleless ; it is protected by a thick 

 coat of mucus. 



Two clavate cephalic tentacles, the first being rather more than twice the 

 leno-th of the second, situated close together in the after part of the interorbital 

 space, with luminous organs imbedded in their enlai^ged tips. Second dorsal 

 and anal placed far back on the tail, almost in contact with the caudal, which is 

 pointed and in length a little more than one-fourth of the total ; all the rays 

 of the vertical fins simple ; pectorals very short, pointed ; ventrals absent. 



Colours : — Body and fins jet-black ; in spirit the tip of the cephalic ten- 

 tacles become white. Pharyngo-branchial and j)eritoneal membranes unpig- 

 mented. 



One specimen, 1: inch long from the Bay of Bengal, 1260 fathoms. 



Re^d. No. 12840. 



^tD 



Chaunax, Lowe. 



Chaunax, Lowe, Trans. Zool. Soo. III. 1849, p. 339 : Gunther, Cat. Fishes, III. p. 200 and Challenger Deep 

 Sea Pishes, p. 58 : Goode and Bean, Oceanic Ichthyology, p. 487 : Jordan and Everniann, Fishes N. America, III. 

 p. 2726. 



Head enormous, cuboidal. Skin covered with minute prickles. Mouth- 

 cleft wide, approaching the vertical, the lower jaw heavy and prominent. 

 Bands of small teeth in the jaws and palate. 



Spinous dorsal reduced to a short tentacle situated on the snout. Soft 

 dorsal of moderate length. Anal short. Ventrals present. 



Gills two and a half : no pseudobranchia3. No pyloric cseca. 



37. Chaunax 2yictu8, Lowe. 



Chaunax pictus, Lowe, Trans. Zool. Soc. III. 1849, p. 339, pl.li: Giinther, Cat. Fishes, III. p. 200 and 

 Challenger Deep Sea Fishes, p. 58, pi. x. fig. A : Goode, Proo. U. S. Nat. Mus. III. 1881, p. 470 : Jordan and Gilbert, 

 Bull. 0. S. Nat. Mus. XVI. p. 84G: Vaillant, Exp. Sci. Travailleur et Talisnum, Poiss. p. 343, pi. xxviii. figs. 

 1-11 : Alcock, Ann. Mug. Nat. Hist. Nov. 1889, p. 381 : Goode and Bean, Oceanic Ichthyology, p. 487, fig. 398. 



C/iaii'ia*./'"'"!"'''''™'! U'lgendorf, Sitzuugsb. Ges. Naturf. Freunde, 1879, p. 80 : Steiudachuer and Doderlein, 

 Denk. Ak. Wien XLIX. 1885, p. 191. 



B.7. D. Lll. A. 6-7. P. 11. V. 4 C. 8. 



Shape like that of Diudon or Tdrudun. 



