PHILIPPINE MACROUROID FISHES—GILBERT AND HUBBS. 541 
Genus MALACOCEPHALUS Giinther. 
For a description of this genus with a discussion of its relation- 
ships, and for a key to the four species it contains, reference may 
be made to our report on the macrouroid fishes in Japan.* 
54. MALACOCEPHALUS LUZONENSIS, new species. 
Matlacocephalus, species, GirperT and Hupps, Proc. U. 8. Nat. Mus., vol. 51, 
1916, p. 189. 
Type-specimen.—Cat. No. 83626 U.S.N.M., 56.5 mm. long to anus; 
dredged at Albatross station 5440. 
List of stations. 
| x 
Depth | Bottom | ‘umber 
A@atrous Locality. in | tempera- | of speci- 
: 5 fathoms. ture. | mens. 
bee) ie 
HAR 2e MOTSSOULREEM It ZO Mac. seee.a 2 cae ce cece cen eee one «see eee cee 248 | 47.4 | 2 
ial ||PSeee GOs Seta Soe SoS hae SENSE OEE ao BEC Bee RDO CE eee ee 173 | 51.5 1 
544.00 MOLE WES TehawlUZOMs =o oe eee ia cee seen ise yenre sep es eee eeeeee 172 | 53.2 Type. 
34 7G RO TMeCAS tel elt ZOMes en neie a Secea ta arae ees oma cic arena erie oie 270 | 48.3 1 
Fin-rays—first dorsal, II, 10; pectorals 16 or 17, ventrals, 9. 
This species is characteristically blunt-headed; the greatest depth, 
between the vertical from front of first dorsal and that from the pre- 
opercular ridge, is contained 1.2 times in the head. The snout is 
unusually low and blunt, its bony tip is on a horizontal from the 
lower margin of pupil; preocular length of snout, 4.2 in head; pre- 
oral length, 3.7 in postorbital. The least interorbital width slightly 
exceeds the length of orbit. The ridge and margin of the preopercle 
are sharply produced backward at their angles; the least suborbital 
width is nearly equal to the diameter of pupil. The mouth is large 
and oblique; the length of the upper jaw, which extends backward 
well beyond the orbit, is contained 1.8 times in the head; the teeth 
are stronger than in the Japanese or Hawaiian species, the longest 
being about one-seventh as long as the orbit; the teeth are recurved, 
and are arranged in two series in the upper jaw, of which the outer 
row is enlarged, like the single series on the lower jaw. The barbel 
is long and slender, being contained 1.6 times in the orbit. The gill- 
membranes form a narrow free fold across the isthmus below the pos- 
terior margin of the orbit; this wide forward extension of the bran- 
chial aperture in Malacocephalus is evidence of relationships with 
Hymenocephalus and with Ventrifossa, the next genus to be described. 
The scales are very small; about 13 series separate the prominent 
lateral line from the origin of the second dorsal; each scale is armed 
with about 10 small suberect spinules arranged in a diamond-shaped 
patch on each scale. © The anterior curve of the lateral line is long 
and low. The gular membrane is naked; the branchiostegal mem- 
brane is scaled over the 7 rays. 
1 Gilbert and Hubbs, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 51, 1916, pp. 136, 141, 189. 
