ofiJie Arabian Sea. 307 



Platytkoctes, Gthr. 



11. Platytroctes apus, Gthr. 



PlatyirocU^s apiis, Giiuther, Ann. & Map:. Nat, Hist 1878, vol. ii. 

 p. 249 : and Zool. Chall. Exp. xxii. p. L'l'O, pi. Iviii. fig. A. 



One specimen, 6 inches long, answering in every respect 

 to Dr. Gunther's description, except that the eye is hirger in 

 this specimen, being ^ the length of the head and nearly 

 twice as long as the snout. 



Station 105, 740 fathoms. 



AULASTOMATOMORPHA, gen. nov. 



Head naked. Body elongate, covered with minute hardly 

 imbricate scales. Anterior bones of the head produced into 

 a long tube terminating in a narrow mouth. Margin of the 

 upper jaw formed equally by the premaxilla3 and raaxillge. 

 Uniserial teeth, in the jaws only. Eye large. Gill-cover 

 apparently complete. Gill-opening wide below, contracted 

 above, and not surpassing the level of the pectoral fin ; four 

 gills with narrow laminee. Pseudobranchise almost rudimen- 

 tary. Dorsal fin belonging to the caudal portion of the body ; 

 no adipose dorsal. Anal fin very long. Caudal forked. 

 Pyloric caeca few, small. No air-bladder. 



12. Aulastomatomorpha phospherops^ sp. n. 

 B, 5? D. 21. A. 41. P. 7. V. 6. 



Body elongate and compressed, surrounded from the mid- 

 dorsal line behind the nape to the raid-ventral line behind the 

 vent by a continuous thick succulent fold of the integuments, 

 like, but not so wide as, that of Plati/troctes ; its greatest 

 height, including this fold, is a little more than ^ of the total 

 without the caudal. 



Head low and rather depressed, its length 3^ in the total 

 without the caudal ; produced anteriorly into a long tubular 

 snout, at the end of which is the small mouth ; completely 

 invested by a thick spongy or fungus-like poriferous skin, of 

 a brilliant snow-white reflexion, and probably luminous in 

 function. This covering is continuous round the branchio- 

 stegal rays and opercles with the equally thick velvety mem- 

 brane which lines the external parietes of the gill-chambers, 

 and it sends a fold backwards to the base of the pectoral on 

 each side. 



