Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 2293 



One specimen from Old Bahama Straits. (Liitkon.) A singular fish of 

 uncertain relationships, remarkable for the development of mucous pores. 

 (scriptus, written.) 



Pseudoscopelus scriplus, LUTKEN, Spolia Atlantica, Scopelini, 64, 1892, Old Bahama Straits. 



Family CXCIV. CH^ENICHTHYID^E. 



Body rather elongated, gradually and regularly declining from the nape 

 to the caudal fin; anteriorly subcylindrical or scarcely compressed. Skin 

 naked or covered with small scales. Lateral line high on the sides and 

 near the dorsal fin. Head moderate or large, with the snout prolonged, 

 depressed, and spatuliform. Crown depressed, not relieved by crests or 

 ridges. Preorbital bones large; suborbital chain very narrow, not artic- 

 ulated with the preopercle. Opercular bones all present, the interopercle 

 and subopercle moderately developed. Mouth terminal, with the cleft 

 lateral and large, extending to the vertical of the eye; upper jaw with 

 its border formed almost entirely by the premaxillaries, whose posterior 

 processes are very short; maxillaries with their articulations entirely 

 posterior to the premaxillaries, slender and gradually enlarged toward 

 their extremities. Teeth on the jaws; palate unarmed. Gill openings 

 wide; gill membranes inferiorly deeply emarginated behind. Branchio- 

 stegals 6. Pseudobranchiae developed. Dorsal fin with its spinous por- 

 tion short, and usually distinct from the soft, the rays of the latter 

 often simply articulated and not branched; anal fin a little shorter 

 than the dorsal, its rays divided, the membrane notched behind each; 

 caudal fin not forked; pectoral fins well developed, with their inferior 

 rays divided; ventral fins jugular or subjugular, separated by a rhom- 

 boid area, each with a spine and 5 rays, the first of which is frequently 

 thickened and entire. Cranium flattened behind, the crests little devel- 

 oped or obsolete. The spatuliform snout is principally formed by the 

 elongated frontal bones. Stomach of moderate size and csecal. Pyloric 

 Ciieca in very small number. The chief distinctive characteristic of this 

 family is doubtless the spatuliform extensions of the snout. This, com- 

 bined with the extent of the fins, structure of the head, and general form, 

 distinguish the group from all others. It appears to be most closely 

 allied to the Harpagiferidce and Notoihenidce. From the former it is sepa- 

 rated by the form of the head, as well as by that of the body. From the 

 latter, by the same features, and also by the naked skin. (Gill.) Genera 

 3 or 4, with about 6 species ; inhabiting rather deep waters, mostly in the 

 Tropics. (Chcenichthyoidce, Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1861, 507.) 



a. Body covered with cycloid, deciduous scales ; maxillary with a flap ; opercte with a 

 dermal flap. HYPSICOMETES, 849. 



849. HYPSICOMETES, Goode. 



Hypvicomctes, GOODE, Proc. U. S. K"at. Mus. 1880, 347 (goboides) . 



Body elongate, subcylindrical, tapering posteriorly. Head very large, 

 much depressed, with snout elongate, spatulate ; cleft of mouth very wide, 



