119 

 97. 3Iacrurus {3faIacocephalus) Icei'is, Lowe. 



JUacrurus Isevis, Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1843, p. 92. 



Malacocephalus lievis, Guuther, Cat. Fishes, Vol. IV. p. 397 : Liitken, Vid. lleddel. Nat. Foren., Kjobenhavn 

 1872, p. 1. 



ilacrurus Issvis, Giinther, Challenger Deep-Sea Fishes, p. 148, pi. xxxix. fig. B : Smitt, Hist. Scandinavian 

 Fishes by Fries, Ekstrotu & Snndevall, II. p. 593, fig. 141 : Alcock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Nov. 1889, p. 398 ; and 

 Aug. 1891, p. 123 : Goods and Bean, Oceanic Ichthyology, p. 415 : Koehler, Result. Sci. " Caudan," Poissons, Fasc. 

 III. p. 492. 



Malacocephalus l!Bvix, Gilbert & Cramer, Proc. XJ. S. Nat. Mns. XIX. 1896, p. 432. 



B. 7. D.r+ 11-12. A. circ. 200. P. 17. V. 9. 



Head nearer a sixth than a fifth the total length : greatest body-height 

 equal to the length of the head behind the anterior nostril : tail peculiarly low, 

 long and tapering. 



Snout blunt-pointed ; the median tubercle hardly, and the lateral tubercles 

 not at all, distinguishable ; shghtly projecting beyond the mouth ; nearly as long 

 as the eye. Nostrils, as usual, in a scaleless fossa high up in front of the eye. 



Major diameter of the eye a third to three-sevenths the length of the head, 

 barely equal to the width of the flat interorbital space. 



Mouth wide ; the upper jaw, which is half as long as the head, reaches 

 behind the middle of the eye. Teeth of the upper jaw in two rows — an inner 

 row smaller and closer-set, and an outer row more distant and much larger. A 

 single row of large rather irregular teeth in the lower jaw. 



Barbel about two-thirds as long as the eye. 



Scales on all parts, except the mouth throat and branchiostegal membranes 

 and certain definite patches to be presently noticed near the ventral fins. Those 

 of the head are rough and very small : those on the body are small and are 

 covered with very short bristle-like spinelets. 



Eleven or 12 rows of scales between the last ray of the first dorsal fin and 

 the lateral line. 



First dorsal spine rudimentary ; the second a little longer than the post- 

 orbital portion of the head. 



Pectorals rather narrow, pointed, about the same length as the second dorsal 

 spine. 



Ventrals very short ; the outer ray very slightly prolonged — abt)ut as long 

 as the eye. 



The vent lies at the end of an oval naked depression between the ventral 

 fins : there is a second naked fossa, but with its long diameter transverse, just 

 in front of, or between, the bases of the ventral fins. 



There are 60 or more slender pyloric cgeca. 



