466 REVISION OF RETEROMI—GOODE AND BEAN. vol. xvii.. 



the palate, arrauged in the form of a liorseslioe. The ventral with one 

 spine. Type, Notacanthus rissoamis (Filippi and Verany.) 



POLYACANTHONOTUS EISSOANUS (De Filippi and Verany), Giinther. 



Notacanthus rissoanus, De Filippi and Veuany, Mem. Ace. Sci. Torino, 2d 

 ser., XVIII, 1859, p. 6; Nota Sopra alcniii Pesci del Mediterraneo, 1857, p. 3. — 

 GuNTHEK, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., iii, p. 545. — Canestkini, Pesci d'ltalia, 

 p. 118. — GiGLioLi, Elenco, 34; Nature, xxv, p. 535.— Mokeau, Hist. Nat. 

 Poiss. France, p. 162. — Vaillant, Voy. Travailleur and Talisman, 335, pi. 

 xxvii, tig 1. 



[Notacanthus {Pohjacanthonotus) Tissoanus, Gunther Challenger Keport, xxii, 

 p. 250 (description and figure relate to another species).] 



Paradoxichthijs garihaldianus, Giglioli, Nature, xxv, p. 535. 



A JSTotacanthid fish, slender and elongate in form, its greatest 

 height above the anus and near the middle of the body, one-tifteenth 

 of the length of the body; its height at the shoulders about one- 

 twentieth. The length of the head is about one-eighth of that of the 

 body. Snout very elongate, one- third of the length of the head; as 

 long as the height of the body at the shoulders and three times .the 

 diameter of the eye. In form resembling that of Mastacemhelus. " The 

 condition of the tyi)e,'' remarks Vaillant, "does not allow us to esti- 

 mate thu size of the mouth, but its connature does not reach the 

 anterior edge of the orbit. Its form is analogous to that in other 

 species of the genus, that is to say, its inferior teeth are exceedingly 

 fine and closely set in the jaws, while there are stronger teeth upon 

 the palate, where they are arranged in the form of a horseshoe." 



Eye moderate in size, its diameter one eighth the length of the 

 head; interorbital space "very narrow, not one-half the diameter of the 

 eye. Branchial opening large. Operculum truncated i)Osteriorly. 



Vent in front of the middle of the body. 



No traces of scales. The lateral line, however, is conspicuous, and 

 it descends from the upper angle of the operculum to the middle of the 

 body, or a little below it, in the vicinity of the region of the vent. 

 The hrst dorsal spine is placed two-thirds times its own length back of 

 the vertical from the axil of the pectoral, and its length is less than 

 the diameter of the eye. The highest dorsal spines, those in the pos- 

 terior third of the fin, are twice as long as the diameter of the eye. 

 The spines are all slightly enrved backward, and there is a soft, supple- 

 mentary ray behind the last. The anal spines are longer than the 

 dorsal spines, the longest two and one-half times the diameter of the 

 eye. The first, which is somewhat longer than the first dorsal spine, 

 situated immediately behind the vent under the eighteenth dorsal sjiine. 



In the specimen figured and described by Vaillant there is a sem- 

 blance of a minute, separate caudal fin, but it is by no means certain 

 that this exists. The pectoral is placed a considerable distance from 

 the operculum, nearly equal to the length of the snout, and its lower 

 axil is in the median line of the body, or nearly so. Its length is 

 about equal to that of the snout. The veutrals, situated at a distance 



