158 



The pectoral consists of three distinct portions : — (1) an upper portion of 

 two detached, rigid filaments, the first of which is the longest and, though broken, 

 reaches to the tip of the upper lobe of the caudal ; (2) a middle portion of six 

 comparatively short branched rays, diminishing in length from above downwards 

 and connected together by a stout interradial membrane ; and (3) a lower portion 

 of five free, simple, elongated rays, which reach at least halfway along the 

 tail. 



The ventrals arise just in front of the dorsal ; the outermost ray of each 

 fin forms a long, curved, rigid, spatulate appendage, which is nearly as long as 

 the body in the adult and longer than the body in the young. 



Colours in spirit : — Head nearly black ; body dark brown, with two broad, 

 transverse, white bands, one just in front of the dorsal fin, the other near the 

 middle of the tail ; caudal white ; the otlier fins black, except their prolonged 

 rays, which are translucent white, with black tips. A large, opaque-white, 

 three-lobed body shows through the bones of the crown of the head and snout, 

 and there is a white streak along the mucous canal of the mandible. 



Length of adult female 10 inches (not including the prolonged caudal ray). 



Andaman Sea, 490 fathoms ; Bay of Bengal, olf Andaman Is., 561 fathoms ; 

 Arabian Sea, off the Laccadives and Maldives, 636 and 719 fathoms. 



Regd. Nos. 11770, 13706, 14001, 14002. 



In the young the prolonged caudal and ventral rays are relatively much 

 longer than they are in the adult. 



127. Bathypterois insularutn, Alcock. 



Bathypterois insularujn, Alcock, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Nov. 1892, p. 356. 



B. 13-14. D. 12-13. A. 10. P. 2/12-13. V. 9. L. lat. 48-51. L. tr. 13. 



Body elongate, its height a little more than half the length of the head, 

 which is about one-fourth of the total without the caudal. The snout, which has 

 the typical duck-bill shape, is in length a little more than one-third the length of 

 the head. The very small eyes are not quite a snout-length apart. There is 

 nothing peculiar about the mouth, but there ai-e no teeth on the vomer. The 

 branchial structures are identical with those of other species of the genus. The 

 bodj' and the head, except the jaws and snout, are covered with thin deciduous 

 cycloid scales. 



The dorsal fin begins half a snout-length behind the base of the ventrals, 

 and the anal immediately behind the vertical through the last dorsal ray ; there 

 is a small adipose fin nearly midway between the dorsal and the base of the 

 caudal. The two uppermost pectoral rays are intimately coherent in their basal 



