78 



THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



Liltken retains the name projDosed by Collett, for specimens which were obtained in that 

 part of the Arctic Ocean. 



The specimen is thickly covered with a stratum of coagulated mucus, which can be 

 peeled off in large coherent flakes, filling the pits of the skin of the body and firmly 

 adhering to the broad folds which are developed along the course of each anal ray. It 

 seems to me evident from the appearance of this mucous layer that it is not merely a 

 port-mortem result, but that the body was covered with it during life. The colour of 

 the entire fish is a uniform dirty white. 



The length of the head is equal to, or perhaps a little more than, its distance from 

 the origin of the anal fin ; the snout is produced and the mouth wide ; the eye lies in 

 the anterior half of the length of the head, and is distant from its fellow by only about one 

 horizontal diameter ; however, the general integument of the head passes so gradually into 

 the transparent cornea, that it is difficult to define the exact dimensions of the eye. 

 Nostril near the extremity of the snout, in a short tube. The maxillary extends just to 

 the vertical from the hind margin of the orbit. 



The skin of the head is naked, but with irregular pits on the lower parts of the 

 cheeks, in which, however, no scales can be detected. The skin of the neck is likewise 

 pitted, whilst a broad smooth stripe of skin runs aldng each side of the neck and for 

 some distance along the back of the trunk. Sides of the body and tail pitted, each pit 

 containing a rudimentary hyaline scale. The lower parts of the abdomen deeply pitted, 

 without scales, the pits being filled with a deep layer of mucus which also covers the 

 lower part of the head and the pectoral and anal fins. A single median lateral line ; no 

 trace of an abdominal line. 



The dorsal fin commences above the commencement of the second third of the 

 pectoral fin ; it is enveloped in thick skin, which forms permanent folds running in the 

 direction of the rays ; anal similarly formed, but with the folds much higher ; it is 

 composed of seventy-two rays. Pectoral fin very broad, three-fifths as long as the head ; 

 ventrals very short and small. The specimen is a male and has several semidigested 

 young specimens of its own species, or of a species closely allied to it, in its stomach. 



Measurements : — 



Total length, 



Total length without caudal rays, 



Height below origin of dorsal, 



Ijength of the head. 



Distance of vent from end of snout, 



Length of snout, . 



Length of eye, 



Length of pectoral fin. 



Length of ventral fin, 



Distance of ventral fin from vent, 



