Indian Deep-sea Dredging. 31 



Body and tail compressed ; the height of the former is 

 nearly one fifth the total, with the caudal. Operculum with 

 a sharp spine above, preoperculum with three flat spines 

 radiating from its angle. 



Snout broad and rounded, not overhanging the jaw ; its 

 length, which is equal to the major diameter of the eye or to 

 the width of the convex interorbital space, is contained about 

 4^ times in that of the head. The anterior nostril is a small 

 foramen near the tip of the snout, the posterior is a moderate- 

 sized elliptical opening in front of the angle of the eye. 



Cleft of mouth wide, oblique ; the dilated scaly extremity 

 of the maxilla reaches half an eye-length behind the vertical 

 through the posterior border of the orbit ; the lower jaw is 

 included within the upper in repose, and has a large pore on 

 either side of the symphysis. Villiform teeth in bands in the 

 jaw^s, palatines, and vomer. 



Gill-opening wide ; pharyngo-branchial membrane partially 

 pigmented ; eleven long gill-rakers on the outer side of the 

 first branchial arch, besides small ones above and below ; 

 pseudobranchias reduced to two small pinnules. 



Body and entire head, including even part of the branchio- 

 stegal membranes, covered with small adherent scales, of 

 which there are four rows between the base of the dorsal fin 

 and the lateral line, which is a distinct poriferous groove 

 ending in the posterior fourth of the tail. 



Dorsal and anal fins invested in a thick fold of integument, 

 which is scaly in its basal half. The caudal, which is nearly 

 half the length of the head, is adherent to the other vertical 

 fins at its base only. Pectorals very broad, with fleshy scaly 

 bases, pointed, slightly longer than the postrostral portion of 

 the head ; the lowermost six or seven rays are incompletely 

 detached from the rest of the fin and from each other at their 

 bases, and are produced each into a long free filament, of 

 which the longest (uppermost) in large specimens is twice the 

 length of the fin. Ventrals separated by a considerable 

 interval ; each consists of two separate stout filaments, the 

 outer of which is the longer and exceeds in length the post- 

 orbital portion of the head. 



Parietal peritoneum black ; stomach siphonal ; intestine 

 long and coiled in several wide loops ; no pyloric ceeca ; an 

 air-bladder. 



Colours in life : — Chocolate, posterior third of tail, including 

 the vertical fins in that space, black ; caudal fin and pectoral 

 filaments milk-white. 



Five specimens, the largest nearly 8 inches long, from 

 Station 115, 188 to 220 fathoms. 



