PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 
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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 
Vol. 97 Washington : 1947 No. 3211 
A NEW GENUS AND SPECIES OF DEEP-SEA FISH OF 
THE FAMILY MYCTOPHIDAE FROM THE PHILIPPINE 
ISLANDS 
By Rozsert R. MILer 
Tue depths of the oceans have yielded forms of life that have long 
been of interest to biologists and that have fascinated scientists and 
laymen alike. A great variety of deep-sea fishes has been described, 
many of them grotesque in form and provided with highly specialized 
organs that adapt them for life in utter darkness. Our knowledge 
of a considerable number of these fishes is based only on single speci- 
mens, and quite often these were imperfect. Hence the precise 
systematic position of some genera, and even families, is not uncom- 
monly in doubt (Chapman, 1939, p. 508; Parr, 1945, p. 127; Myers, 
1946). 
The novelty about to be described was collected by the Albatross 
during 1908-1909, on her Philippine cruise, and is based upon 31 
specimens of graded sizes, a number of which are nearly perfectly 
preserved. This fortunate circumstance has permitted a far more 
complete description than is usually possible with deep-sea forms. 
Although taken nearly three-fourths of a mile beneath the surface, 
this fish shows few adaptations for abyssal life. 
SOLIVOMER, new genus 
Genotype.—Solivomer arenidens, new species. 
Diagnosis.—Body elongate, moderately compressed, broadly oval 
in cross section, widest across head, deepest just behind occiput, from 
which it tapers gradually to caudal fin. Scales on body large (41 
%34131—47 B1 
