REPORT ON THE DEEP-SEA FISHES. 263 



Group N e m i c li t h y i u a, Gthr. 



Nemichthys, Richards, i 

 Nemichthys scolopacea. 



Nemichthys scolopacea, Eichards, Voy. Samar. Fish., p. 2.5, pi. x. figs. 1-3. 



„ ,, Giinth., Fish., p. 21. 



„ „ Jordan and Gilbert, Syuops. Fish. N. Amer., p. 366. 



„ ,, Goode and Bean, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zocil., vol. x., 1883, p. 225. 



Leptorhynchus leuchtcnhergii, Lowe, Mem. Savans liltrang. St. Petersb., vol. vii., 1854, p. 171. 

 Belonojisis Jeuchtenhergii, Brandt, ibid., p. 174, c. fig. 



The dorsal fin commences immediately behind the occiput, and the anal behind the 

 vent. Vent below the middle of the pectoral fin. The diameter of the eye is two- 

 fifths, and the greatest depth of the head two-thirds of the length of the postorbital 

 portion of the head. 



The larger of the two specimens in the British Museum, which is probably the 

 type of Lowe's description, is 33 inches long, and was caught at Madeira. The U.S. 

 Fish Commission has obtained many specimens by means of the trawl ofi" New England, 

 in depths of from 304 to 1047 fathoms. 



Nemichthys avocetta. 



Nemichthys avocetta, Jordan and Gilbert, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., vol. iii., 1881, p. 409 ; Synops. 

 Fish. N. Amer., p. 367. 



This species, which is perhaps not specifically distinct from Nemichthys scolopacea, 

 is characterised thus : — " Head slenderer, its depth one-ninth jts greatest length. Eye 

 large, one-third the head, without snout. Length of pectoral scarcely greater than 

 height of anal, which is scarcely less than the greatest depth of the body, and more 

 than the greatest depth of the head. Translucent ; belly with close-set dark spots, its 

 lower edge and anal fin black, the back abruptly white and unspotted." 



One specimen, 22 inches long, was captured at the surface in Puget's Sound ; its 

 movements in the water are said to have been extremely active. 



' Some fishes obtained by the U.S. Fish Commission, off the coast of New England, belong to this or perhaps an 

 allied genus, but are, at present, too imperfectly described to deserve more than a passing notice, viz., Sernvovier heanii, 

 stated to be " the stoutest of the family, and with much shorter jaws than any other, and with a very formidable 

 vomerine armature"; 21 inches long, from 855 fathoms. Spinivomer goodd, name given to a young specimen 130 mm. 

 long, from 2361 fathoms. Labichthys carinatus and Labkhthys elongatus, with "tlie tail abruptly truncated," about 

 16 and 20 inches long, from respectively 906 and 1628 fathoms. Gill, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., vol. vi., 1884, pp. 260-262. 



