25*^ HANKS'S OARFISH. 



numerous; diminishing in size on the whole until they ended 

 in mere spots at some distance behind the vent. This loAver 

 series seemed to correspond in some measure with the upper. 

 Interspersed among the lines were a few irregular spots. The 

 lateral line could be traced from behind the head, gradually- 

 passing downward near the ventral border, until it became close 

 to it at the termination. Four longitudinal flattened ridges, 

 rather more than an inch in breadth, passed on from the head 

 to the tail immediately above the lateral -line; the uppermost, 

 which is the longest, running forward almost to the eye. The 

 surface of the skin was studded with numerous tubercles of bone, 

 the smallest and most depressed being between the ridges and 

 towards the dorsal and ventral borders; the most prominent 

 being upon the ridges. On the ventral ridge were numerous 

 irregular and prominent tubercles, slightly hooked backwards; 

 and these tubercles were near the head replaced by irregular 

 depressed hardenings of the skin. 



The head Avas small and short, measuring nine inches from 

 the snout to the posterior border of the gill-cover. The outline 

 of the lower jaw formed a wide arch, . convex below, and 

 stretching forward and upward to the mouth, which was placed 

 in an elevated position, and opened upward and forward. The 

 mouth small, nearly circular, and capable of being thrust forward 

 two or three inches when the lower jaw was depressed. The 

 profile of the head from the front of the crest was at first 

 suddenly concave, the concavity facing forward and upward, 

 and close behind the anterior end of the concave is the small 

 nasal chamber. Beyond this concavity the premaxillary bones 

 projected almost horizontally to the mouth. The eye an inch 

 and a half in diameter, and flat; the iris beautifully white. 

 There were no teeth; the gill-covers large in proportion to the 

 size of the head, with well-marked radiating lines. The dorsal 

 fin extended from immediately behind the upper and posterior 

 end of the curved frontal profile to within three inches of the 

 tail. The anterior part of this fin was more prominent than 

 the rest, and had twelve rays, which were stated by the captors 

 to have been twelve or fourteen inches in length when the fish 

 was taken, and each to have been furnished with a membranous 

 expansion on its posterior edge, increasing in width upward 

 something like a peacock's feather. The first ray was a rather 



