SOUTH AMERICAN NEMATOGNATHI. 297 



Head 5|; depth, at dorsal spine, 6J-7; greatest depth 

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



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



233, Auchenipterus fordicei, 



Auchenipterus fordicei Eigeiim. & Eigeum. Proc. Gal. Acad. 2d 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 2J in the diameter of 

 the eye. 



Eye 1 in snout, 3| in head, 2J 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 the ventrals; postmentals 

 not to the middle of the pectorals. Snout rounded in 

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

 rictus 1| in the width of the snout at the same place. 



Teeth as in A. nuchalis. 



Distance of dorsal spine from the snout 3J in the 

 length; dorsal spine 1J 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, -J- 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, 



