16 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



head. Dorsal spines rather strong, curved, the fourth the longest, its length being 

 contained twice and one-third in that of the head. Mandible with two points at the 

 chin. Coloration uniform. 



Several examples were obtained from " great depths " at Tokio, where the fish is not 

 rare. The largest example was 8 inches long. 



Synagrojjs. 

 Melanostoma,^ Doderlein, Denkschr. cl. k. Akad. d. Wiss. Wien, xlviii., 1883, p. 5. 



Shape of the body rather elongate. Upper side of the head with muciferous cavities. 

 Prseoperculum finely denticulated; operculum with two points. Two dorsal fins, the 

 first with nine slender spines, the second rather short. A narrow band of villiform teeth 

 in the jaws, on the vomer and palatine bones, with the addition of a pair of canine teeth 

 in the upper jaw, and a series of similar teeth in the lower. Scales large, thin, and 

 cycloid. Air-bladder present. Pyloric appendages in small number (six to seven). 

 Pharynx and peritoneal cavity black. 



Synagrops japonicus. 



Melanostoma japonicum, Doderlein, loc. cit., Taf. i. fig. 2. 



B. 7, D. 9xV, A. I, p. jL, V. 1, L. lat. 31 ( -I- 5 caudal). 



The height of the body is one-fourth, the length of the head nearly one-third of the 

 total (without caudal). Eye longer than the snout, contained thrice and two-thirds in 

 the length of the head. The mouth extends to below the midtUe of the eye, is rather 

 oblique, with somewhat projecting lower jaw. Uniform blackish. 



From " very great depths," and rare at Tokio ; Doderlein obtained one example only, 

 9 inches long. 



Family Scorp^nid^. 



Scorpiena, Gthr. 



On the distinctive characters of this genus and Sebastes, see Giinther, Fisch. d. 

 Siidsee, p. 74. 



' Preoccupied. — I may observe here that the fish described by Steindachner in the same paper, under the name of 

 Oypselichthijs japonicus, n. gen. et sp. (p. 14, pi. vii. tig. 1), is a species of the genus Cahiceps, and does not belong to the 

 "Maenini," but to the family Nomeidae. 



