REPORT ON THE DEEP-SEA FISHES. 125 



Subgenus Ccelorhynchus. 



Ccelorhynchus, Giorna. 



Macrurus parallelus (PI. XXIX. fig. A). 



Macrurus paralleliis, Giinth., Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1877, vol. xx. p. 439. 

 D. 10. A. 90. V. 7. P. 16. C. pyl. 12. 



Snout much produced, subtriliedral, pointed, nearly twice as long as the large eye. 

 Scales with five or even seven spiny ridges, which are nearly parallel to one another, and 

 of which the middle one is the strongest, terminating in a more or less strongly projecting 

 spine. Head covered all over with irregular, spiny, tubercle-like scales, of which those 

 along the infraorbital crest and along two lines on each side of the crown of the head 

 are the strongest. There are five scales in a transverse series between the first dorsal 

 and lateral line. Outer ventral ray produced into a short filament. Cavity of the mouth 

 and of the gills and abdomen black. 



Habitat. — Off New Zealand; Station 169; depth, 700 fathoms. One specimen, 18^ 

 inches long. 



Off the Kermadec Islands, Station 170a; depth, 630 fathoms. Three specimens, 23, 

 12 and 7 inches long. 



Off the Kermadec Islands, Station 171; depth, 600 fathoms. Two specimens, 2^ 

 inches long. 



Hyalonema-ground, off luosima, Japan, Station 232; depth, 345 fathoms. Eight 

 specimens, 12 to 17 inches long. 



South of Japan, Station 235 ; depth, 565 fathoms. One specimen, 5^ inches long. 



The length of the head is but little less than the distance between the barbel and 

 vent, the snout being much produced, subtrihedral, depressed, acutely pointed in front, 

 and nearly twice as long as the large eye. The horizontal diameter of the eye is much 

 longer than its vertical, and equal to the width of the flat interorbital space in a specimen 

 23 inches long. The posterior nostril is twice as wide as the anterior ; the flap which 

 separates them is of a black colour. Angle of the prseoperculum produced backwards into 

 a short lobe ; eye nearer to the point of the operculum than to the end of the snout, two- 

 ninths of the length of the head. Pectoral rather small, equal in length to the post- 

 orbital portion of the head, much longer than the ventrals. The first dorsal ray feeble, 

 as long as the pectoral, inserted at a very short distance behind the vertical from the 

 root of the pectoral. The relative length of the abdominal cavity is liable to change with 

 the growth of the fish ; in a specimen 23 inches long, the distance between vent and 

 isthmus is two-thirds of the length of the head, whilst it is only one-half in an example of 

 half that length. 



