380 PEOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



of water. The specimen represents a species first made known by F. E. 

 Clarke in Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 

 (xi, 1878, p. 294, pi. xiv) under the name Lepidopus elongatus. Clarke 

 had seen eight or ten examples, all taken at Hokitika, on the South 

 Island of the Kew Zealand group. Hokitika is in about south latitude 

 43° and east longitude 171°. A remarkable range is thus discovered 

 for this singular Trichiiirid. The species differs in so many important 

 characters from Lepidopus and other allied genera that we are forced to 

 establish for it a new genus more nearly related to Emxymetopon Poey 

 and Lepidopus Gouan than to any other forms at present known to 

 ichthyologists. Its distinctive characters may be formulated as follows : 



Benthodesmus new genus, Trichiurid^. 



Body naked, much compressed, attenuate, tapering gradually from 

 vent to base of caudal. Caudal peduncle very slender, supporting a 

 small but well-developed caudal fin. Vent considerably nearer to head 

 than to tail. 



Lateral line simple, in a deep, wide furrow, nearly straight, in front 

 of the vent gradually ascending to the scapular region. 



Head comijressed, its upper profile nearly horizontal ; snout gibbous 

 near its end, as in Lepidopus. 



Top of head very flat, concave between the eyes, with no occipital 

 crest. Interorbital ridges not elevated. 



Byes large, slightly postmedian. Operculum oblong, reaching a little 

 beyond the base of the pectoral fin. Nostrils horizontal, in front of the 

 eyes. 



Supramaxillary not extending to vertical from front of eyes. Lower 

 jaw with stout cutaneous appendage. 



Three very long, simple, compressed teeth on each intermaxillary in 

 front ; outside of these a few minute teeth, and behind them a row of 

 large acicular teeth. In lower jaw a single row of moderately large 

 acicular teeth, more numerous than in the ui)j)er jaw, largest in the 

 middle of the jaw. Palatine teeth minute. 



Dorsal fin, beginning above the operculum, nearly uniform in height 

 throughout its entire length, and continuous almost to the caudal. Rays 

 very numerous (over 150 in B. elongatus). Anal beginning near the 

 vent, preceded by a single scale-like appendage; spines very numerous 

 (numbering with the rays about 100 in B. elongatus, all except 28 or 30 

 being spines), minute and almost hidden ; a short fin posteriorly. 



Caudal small, normal, forked. 



Pectoral fins inserted almost horizontally, with lower rays longest, 

 and its upper outline rounded. 



Ventral fins represented each by a minute scale-like spine, inserted 

 below the origin of the pectorals. 



Pseudobranchiae present ; gills 4, a slit behind the fourth. 



Gill-rakers short and spiny, in a single series on the first and second 



