Indian Deep-sea Fishes. 14.3 



Ophidiid^, which form nearly 15 per cent, of the whole. 



Macruridae, „ „ " 13 



JMiufenid*^ ,, about 10 ,, „ 



Scopelidse „ „ 7-5 



Alepocephahdffi, „ „ 6-5 „ „ 



The family Pediculati is particularly well represented in 

 these seas, where, between 128 and 1260 fathoms, we find 

 twelve species {i. e. about 7*5 per cent, of the whole), be- 

 longing to eight genera. Among them it is interesting to 

 notice three forms (^Dibranchus, Malthopsis, Halicmetus) in 

 W'hich more or less marked degeneration of the locomotor 

 organs is correlated with a more than ordinary reduction in 

 the number of ^ills. 



§4. Descriptions of new Species. 



Ten new species are described ; they will all be figured in 

 an early issue of the " Illustrations of the Zoology of the 

 ' Investigator.' " 



Among the new forms two, besides the two already men- 

 tioned, are specially interesting; they are: — (I) Benthohatis, 

 a blind torpedo perhaps more nearly allied to the Eastern 

 Pacific Discopyge than to any other member of the family ; 

 and (2) a new species of Diplacanthopoma that is evidently, 

 like one of its congeners, viviparous. This is the third species 

 of Diplacanthopoma discovered in these seas; the type of the 

 genus was dredged by the ' Challenger ' in a moderate depth 

 ofl[" Pernambuco. 



PLAGIOSTOMATA SELAGIiOlDEl. 



Family Spinacidae. 



Centeophorus, M. & H., Gthr. 



Cenirophorus Bossi^ sp. n. 



Near C. calceus (Lowe), C. foliaceas^ Giiuther, and C. oh~ 

 scurus, Vaillant. 



Snout spathulate, much produced, its preoral portion 

 (measured from the most convex point of the upper jaw) 

 being at least twice the distance between the angle of the 

 mouth and the first gill-opening, and more than 2i times the 

 distance between the nostrils. 



The labial fold extends considerably more than halfway 

 between the angle of the mouth and the middle of the lower 

 jaw. 



11* 



