REPOET ON THE DEEP-SEA FISHES. 



37 



Nesiarchus nasutus. 



Nedardius nasutus, Johnson, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1862, p. 173, pi. 22. 



Prometheus paradoxus, Capello, Journ. Sc. Acad. Lisb., voL iii. p. 260, pi. iv. fig. 5 ; and vol. 

 VL p. 1.54. 



This is the ouly species of the genus ; it is a large iish, known from a few speci- 

 mens only which have been found in the sea off Madeira and the Portuguese coast. It 

 is without doubt a deep-sea fish, which comes to the surface only by accident. 



Lepidopus, Gouau. 



Body much elongate, band-like, scaleless ; head long and pointed ; cleft of the mouth 

 wide, the jaws being armed with strong lanceolate teeth in a single series ; a series of 

 small teeth on the palatine bones. Eyes large. The whcjie of the l)ack is occupied by 

 a single dorsal fin ; anal spines numerous, but the majority are rudimentary or may 

 disappear entirely ; no postanal spine ; caudal fin small. Ventral fins absent or 

 rudimentary. Eight branchiostegals ; air-bladder present. Pyloric appendages rather 

 numerous. 



Lepidopus caudatus (Euphrasen). 



The Scabbard-fish or Frost-fish of New Zealand is probably an 

 inhabitant of moderate depths, although no positive evidence has been 

 forthcoming as to its vertical distribution. It is rather common in 

 the Mediterranean and warmer parts of the Atlantic, at the Cape of 

 Good Hope, in the seas around Tasmania and New Zealand, and on 

 the coast of California. Lendenfeld has observed that the Frost-fish 

 periodically appears on the coast of New Zealand in numbers, evidently 

 rising from the depths which it inhabits in order to deposit its spawn.' 



The skeleton has been described in the Catalogue of Fishes, vol. ii. 

 p. 345, and the annexed figure represents the abdominal surface of the 

 pelvic bones with the rudimentary scale-like ventral fins, twice the 

 natural size. 



Fio. 2.— Pel vie bones of 

 Lepidopus caudatxis. 



Lepidopus tenuis (PL VII. fig. B). 



LepidoiMS tenuis, Giinth., Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1877, vol. xx. p. 437. 



D. 126. A. 71. 



This species is distinguished at the first glance by the extraordinary slenderness 

 of the body, the depth of which is not much more than one-fourth of the length 



J Zool. Anzeiger, 1883, p. 559. 



