212 ]\rr. A. Alcock on the Bathyhial Fishes 



Eyes situated in the uppermost part of tlie anterior third of 

 the head, deep-set, without orbital folds, their major diameter 

 being one tenth to one eleventh of the head-length and one 

 third the width of the convex interocular space. Nostrils 

 large, one at the antero-superior limit of the orbit, the other 

 midway between the first and the tip of the snout. ^Moutli 

 wide, oblique ; the maxilla, which is half as long as the 

 head, completely encloses the mandible in repose ; villiform 

 teeth in narrowish bands in the jaws, palatines, and vomer, 

 the last arranged in a V with incurved limbs ; oro-branchial 

 cavity jet-black throughout. 



Gill-covers large ; the preoperculum overlaps large portions 

 of all the other opercular bones, extending almost to the 

 hinder edge of the operculum ; the operculum with a feeble 

 flat spur at the postero-superior angle, and another below 

 concealed by the overlying preoperculum ; gill-openings very 

 wide, the membranes separate throughout ; gill-laminaj 

 narrow ; seventeen long scabrous gill-rakers on the first 

 branchial arch, besides some rudimentary ones above; no 

 pseudobranchia3. 



Small, thin, deciduous scales cover the entire head and 

 body behind the snout ; there are twenty-five rows between 

 the dorsal fin and the vent. Lateral line indistinguishable. 



All the fin-rays delicate. The dorsal and anal fins are 

 thick and fleshy; the highest rays of the dorsal — near the 

 middle of the fin — are higher than the corresponding anal 

 rays, and measure nearly half the maximum body-height ; 

 the dorsal begins well in advance of the gill-opening. Caudal 

 very narrow, its length nearly one twelfth of the total ; it is 

 confluent Avith the other vertical fins only at its base. Pec- 

 torals entire, pointed, half as long as the head. Vcntrals 

 arising at the pectoral sym})hysis, close together ; their single 

 ray is as long as the postorbital ])ortion of the head. 



Stomach siphonal ; intestine wide, much coiled ; no pyloric 

 ca3ca ; liver large ; an air-bladder. 



The stomach of the dissected specimen contained a Pena^d. 



Colours in the fresh state : transparent grey ; head, belly, 

 and ])ectorals black. 



Length 7 to 8 inches. 



Hah. Vide Station 97. P^ive specimens. 



Tauredophidium, gen. nov. 



Allied to Acanthonus, Gthr. 



Head large and thick, armed on the opercles with strong 

 spines ; body compressed. Snout broad, not overhanging 



