150 Mr. A. Alcock on 



separated, four gills with wide clefts. No scales ; the lateral 

 line, which consists of a single row of pore*, is very indistinct 

 in the greater part of its extent. Dorsal and anal fins well 

 developed, confluent with the broad caudal only in the basal 

 half of the latter. No pectoral fins. An air-bladder; no 

 pyloric appendages. 



Nettenchelys Taylori, sp. n. 



Head, measured to gill-opening, one seventh the total, and 

 half as long as the distance between the gill-openings and 

 the vent; the tail is thus a good deal more than half the 

 total. Snout a third the length of the head (measured to the 

 gill-opening), elongate, broad, depressed, bill-like, the upper 

 jaw overlapping the lower. There is a series of large pores 

 along the upper lip, as also along each side of the lower jaw 

 and along the top of the snout on either side, but the only 

 undoubted nostrils are a largish tubular pair at the tip of the 

 snout. Eyes subcutaneous, not much more than a fourth the 

 length of the snout and not much more than half a diameter 

 apart. 



The mouth-cleft reaches behind the eye; the dental surface 

 of both jaws is broad and is crowded with row upon row of 

 close-set conical teeth, which are little more than villiform, 

 though the innermost row in either jaw is slightly enlarged. 

 On the vomer is a long broad convex band of similar teeth — 

 about six longitudinal rows of them. The tongue is large 

 and thick and tapers to a point ; it is firmly adherent to the 

 floor of the mouth. 



Gill-openings of moderate size, lateral, well separated. 



No scales. Although the mucous system and pores of the 

 head are so well developed, those of the lateral line, which 

 are in a single row, very soon become distant, small, and 

 inconspicuous, though they are continued to the end of the 

 tail. 



Though the tail tapers it does not end in a point, but in a 

 broad caudal fin, the outer rays of which are confluent only 

 in their basal half with the dorsal and anal fins ; these latter 

 are well developed, the dorsal beginning immediately behind 

 the gill-opening. No pectorals. 



The stomach forms a cul de sac of great length ; the air- 

 bladder extends a long way behind the vent. 



Colours : dark lavender-grey ; dorsal and anal fins with 

 basal half whitish and free half blackish. 



A ripe female, 22 inches long, from off the Travancore 

 coast, -LoO fath. 



