2292 Bulletin //, United States National Museum. 



likewise prolonged, the third pair the longest; palatines with a longer, 

 fixed tooth in front. Eye moderate, above the anterior part of maxillary, 

 4| in head, shorter than snout, as wide as interorbital space. Lateral 

 line in a longitudinal groove. First dorsal of slender rays, its base 2 in 

 in that of second dorsal; anal commencing behind second dorsal, its ante- 

 rior rays without connection with vertebral column ; posterior rays of 

 anal and dorsal very feeble ; pectoral as long as head without snout ; ven- 

 tral \ as long as pectoral. Color entirely black. Length 12 inches. 

 (Giinther.) Deep waters of the Atlantic; a remarkable fish, the walls of 

 the body inordinately extensible ; taken at Madeira, in the mid- Atlantic, 

 near the island of Dominica, and off the coast of Massachusetts.* (niger, 

 black.) 



Chiasmodon niger, JOHNSON, Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1863, 408, Madeira; JORDAN <fc GIL- 

 BEET, Synopsis, 964: GOODE & BEAN, Oceanic Ichthyology, 292, 1896. 



Chiatmodus niger, GUNTHER, Cat., v, 435, 1864; CARTER, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1866, 38; GUNTHER, 

 Challenger Report, Deep Sea Fishes, xxn, 99, 1887. 



848. PSEUDOSCOPELUS, Liitken. 



Pseudotcopehis, LUTKEN, Spolia Atlantica, Scopelini, 64, 1892 (scriptus). 



Body perciform, scaleless, naked; mouth very large; eyes moderate; 

 the slender maxillary reaching far beyond eye; jaws and palate with 

 slender, close-set teeth; ventral fins short, subthoracic, of 1 spine and 5 

 rays; first dorsal short, of about 8 slender spines; posterior dorsal long, 

 similar to the anal. Each jaw with a distinct line of pores, a median line 

 of pores before ventrals, a cross line connecting ventral s, a series of pores 

 from the vent passing around anal on each side. Lateral line well devel- 

 oped, running high. Head without spines. Gill openings very broad. 

 Pectorals long; caudal short, forked. One species known, in deep water. 

 (i/>Ev8r?$, false; Scopelus.) 



2630. PSEUDOSCOPELUS SCRIPTUS, Liitken. 



Head 3; depth 4|. D. VIII-22; A. 22; V. I, 5. Body subfusiform, 

 somewhat compressed. Head large, the snout short and pointed, 4 in 

 head, the small eye, about 5. Jaws subequal, maxillary 1 in head ; cheek 

 V-shaped, very oblique; bones of head not serrate. Form of head and 

 mouth much as in Engraulis or Scopelus. Pectoral nearly as long as 

 head, reaching past front of anal; soft dorsal higher than spiuous, the 

 anterior rays of soft dorsal and anal elevated. Pores as above described. 



* The first specimen of this remarkable fish was obtained at Magdalena (Madeira), at a 

 depth of 312 fathoms, in 1850, by Lowe, who, however, omitted to give a description of it. 

 The species was rediscovered at the same locality by Johnson twelve years later. A 

 third specimen was picked up from the surface, near the island of Dominica. A fourth 

 example was obtained by the Challenger in mid- Atlantic, at Station 107, in 1,500 fathoms, 

 on August 26, 1873. A fifth was obtained by the TJ. S. National Museum from Capt. 

 Thomas F. Hodgdon of the Gloucester schooner Bessie W. Somers. It was found on Le 

 Have Bank, floating on the surface, in June, 1880. (Goode & Beau.) 



