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



The snout is less produced and depressed than in Chlorophthahnus agassizii ; the jaws 

 are generally weaker and the maxillary extends beyond the anterior margin of the eye. 



Four gills, with pseudobranchise. The gill-rakers of the anterior arch are slender, the 

 longest not quite as long as the half of the eye, twenty-five in number, of which the five 

 uppermost are quite rudimentary. 



Peduncle of the tail not compressed, nearly as broad as high ; the dorsal region of the 

 trunk and tail is also broad. Scales thin and cycloid, with very minute concentric 

 striae and lacerated posterior margins. 



The terminal portion of the three outer ventral rays is thickened and covered with a thick 

 mucous layer, a peculiarity which we shall find still more developed in the following species. 



The dorsal fin is high, the anterior rays being much higher than the body underneath, 

 and more than twice as long as the anterior anal rays. 



Uniformly silvery, with the top of the dorsal fin and the extremity of the caudal lobes 

 black ; the mouth and gill-cavity are not coloured. 



This fish shows nothing to indicate its bathybial life beyond the excessively large 

 eye ; and it is not likely that it descends to any more considerable depth than that 

 from which it was obtained. 



Chlorophthalmus gracilis, (PI. XLIX. fig. A). 



Chlorophthalmus gracilis, Giinth., Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1878, vol. ii. p. 182. 

 B. 10. D. 11. A. 11. P. 22. V. 8. L. lat. 60. L. transv. 6 | 7. 



The length of the head is one-fourth of the total length, without caudal. The tail 

 being slender, the distance between the end of the anal and root of the caudal is not 

 very much less than the length of the head. Distance of the adipose fin from the dorsal 

 equal to that between the latter and the front margin of the eye. Snout depressed, 

 flat, with the lower jaw prominent. Interorbital space rather broad, more than the 

 vertical diameter of the eye. Eye large, its horizontal diameter being two-ninths of the 

 length of the head, and two-thirds of that of the snout. Teeth in the jaws in coarsely 

 villiform bands, those on the vomer and palatine bones in a single series ; the vomerine 

 series being interrupted in the middle. Only a few minute teeth on the tongue. The 

 intermaxillary is toothed along the whole of its length, and extends nearly as far back as 

 the maxillary, the extremity of which reaches to behind the eye. Pectoral considerably 

 longer than the ventral, which does not extend to the vent, the vent being a little nearer 

 to the anal than to the ventral. Origin of the dorsal fin immediately behind the root of 

 the ventral. Scales cycloid ; those of the lateral line and between the ventral fins larger 

 than the rest. Uniformly brownish-black ; fins of a lighter colour. 



Habitat. — Off" the eastern coast of New Zealand, Station 168; depth, 1100 fathoms. 

 One specimen, 8 inches long. 



