PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 535 
the estimate of Captain Riggs, that there are a thousand barrels in one 
of the schools, shows how exceedingly abundant they must be. The 
name ‘frigate mackerel”, used in Bermuda, would seem to be the best 
name for use in this country, since the fish resemble the mackerel more 
than they do the bonito or tunny. 
Capt. N. E. Atwood, of Provincetown, Mass., the veteran fisherman- 
ichthyologist, has examined the specimens, and is satisfied that they 
belong to the same species with a fish which he found abundant in the 
Azores in 1840, when, led by the reports of Cape Cod whalers, he went 
to these islands in search of mackerel, the mackerel-fishing being poor 
at home. No mackerel were found except the frigate mackerel referred 
to in this note. 
NOTACANTHIUS PHASGANORUS, A NEW SPECIES OF NOTACAN- 
THIDE FROM THE GRAND BANKS OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 
By G. BROWN GOODE. 
The United States Fish Commission has received from the schooner 
“Gatherer,” of Gloucester, Captain Briggs Gilpatrick, a remarkable fish 
taken from the stomach of a ground-shark, Somniosus brevipinnis, on 
the Grand Bank of Newfoundland. 
Notacanthus, Bloch. 
Notacanthus, BLOCH. 
Acanthonotus, BLocH, Ichthyologia, xii, 1797, p. 113, pl. eceexxxi. (No de- 
scription separate from that of species A. nasus.)—SCHNEIDER, Bloch, 
Syst. Ichth. 1801, p. 390, pl. xlvii. 
Notacanthus, LACEPEDE, Hist. Nat. Poiss. 1804. 
Head and body much compressed, the body elongate, produced in a 
long pointed tail, shaped like that of Macrurus or Fierasfer. Snout pro- 
duced, obtuse, rounded at its tip. The cleft of the mouth inferior. (The 
specimen is mutilated, but the maxillaries do not appear to be protrac- 
tile. Dorsal fin almost rudimentary, consisting of very short, flexible 
spines, remote from each other and not connected by amembrane. Anal 
fin very long; its origin close behind the vent, which is situated nearly 
midway of the length of the body; its anterior portion is composed of 
separate flexible spines, without membrane, resembling those of the 
dorsal; these gradually lengthen, grading into the articulated branched 
rays. No caudal. Ventrals broad, with broad, peduncle-like bases, 
closely contiguous, separated only by a slight groove at the base, situ- 
ated near the vent. Teeth acicular, in single rows upon maxillaries, in 
a double row upon mandibulars, villiform and in a double row upon the 
palatines. Vomerine teeth not apparent (?). Seales very numerous, of 
moderate size, ‘round, thin, flexible. Branchiostegals about 5; gills 4. 
Notacanthus phasganorus, new species. 
The body is much compressed, its greatest width slightly more than 
one-third the height of the body at the vent, its width at the tail from 
