SOUTH AMERICAN NEMATOGNATHI. 297 



Head oh; depth, at dorsal spine, 6|-7; greatest depth 

 4f-5; D. I, 6; A. 47; V. 12-15. 



Two specimens .165 m. Villa Bella .15 m. loc. ? 



233. Auchenipterus fordicei. 



Auchenipierits /o7-(licei 'Eigenm. & Eigenm. Proc. Cal. Acad. 2tl Ser. 

 i, 151, 1888 (Coary). 



Body short, deep, compressed. Head short, its width 

 equals the distance from tip of snout to middle of opercle; 

 depth at base of occipital process little less than its width; 

 top of the head covered with very thin skin, the surface 

 of the bones striate. Occipital process twice as broad as 

 long, parabolic behind, joining the dorsal plate; dorsal 

 plate deeply emarginate in front and behind, less so on 

 sides, its length on a median line 2h in the diameter of 

 the eye. 



Eye 1 in snout, 3^ in head, 23- in interocular. 



Maxillary barbel reaching beyond base of ventral, its 

 osseous base not extending to center of eye; mental bar- 

 bels reaching to the middle of tlte ventrals; postmentals 

 not to the middle of the pectorals. Snout rounded in 

 front, jaws about equal, the width of the mouth at the 

 rictus 14 in the width of the snout at the same place. 



Teeth as in A. niichalis. 



Distance of dorsal spine from the snout Sh in the 

 length; dorsal spine I4 in head, slender, its anterior 

 margin smooth, its posterior margin with short teeth; 

 its tip, when depressed, reaching the vertical from the 

 end of the first third of the ventrals. 



Caudal fin 4| in the length. 



Origin of anal equidistant between snout and base of 

 caudal . 



Ventrals large, ^ longer than head, the inner rays con- 

 nected by a membrane, the tips of the longest rays reach- 

 ing to the 8th or 9th anal ray. 



Pectoral spine long and slender, 1 in head, curved, 



