2508 Bulletin ^7, United States National Museum. 



caudal rays as from snout. Head moderately compressed, flat above; 

 snout obtuse rounded, turgid; lower jaw considerably included. Bones 

 of head not completely ossified, very cavernous in the alcoholic specimen, 

 the head showing many deep sinuosities and depressions. Eye very small, 

 situated about midway between the tip of the snout and the vertical from 

 the posterior end of maxillary. Teeth all small and short, densely set, 

 forming narrow, villiform bands; vomerine band open V-shaped. Dorsal 

 fin beginning far in advance of origin of pectoral and above upper angle 

 of gill opening, rays longest in region of vent; anal beginning imme- 

 diately behind vent, its rays not quite so long as those of dorsal; pectoral 

 with broad base, short, not exceeding much more than halfway to vertical 

 from vent, its length considerably less than that of postorbital portion of 

 head. Ventral rays very slender, villiform, reaching almost to vent, far 

 beyond pectoral, their length almost equal to that of head. Scales mod- 

 erate, very deciduous, extending upon cheeks and on top of head almost 

 to tip of snout ; no evidence of a lateral line. Color light, the head and 

 abdomen blackish; inside of mouth purplish brown. The Slake secured 

 specimens from Station CCIV, in lat. 24 33' N., at a depth of 1,920 fathoms, 

 and from Station LXXXIV, off Dominica, in 1,131 fathoms. The Albatross 

 also obtained examples (No. 49416, U. S. Nat. Mus. ) from Station 2380, in Lat. 

 28 02' 30'.' N., Long. 87 43' 45" W., at a depth of 1,430 fathoms ; (No. 33306, 

 U. S. Nat. Mus. ) from Station 2042, in lat. 39 33' N., Long. 68 26' 45" W., at 

 a depth of 1,555 fathoms. (Goode & Bean.) West Indies, Gulf of Mexico, 

 and to lat. 40 N., in region of the Gulf Stream, (normalis, normal.) 



Batsozetus normalis, GILL, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mns. 1883, 259, Lat. 39 33' N., Long. 68 26' 45" 

 W., in 1,555 fathoms (Type, No. 33306. Coll. Albatross); GOODE & BEAN, Oceanic 

 Ichthyology, 322, fig. 287, 1896. 



2880. BASSOZETUS COMPRESSES (Giinther). 



D. 116; A. 92 ; P. 23; V. 1. The greatest depth of the body is above the 

 end of the gill cover and about length of trunk ; vent twice as distant 

 from extremity of tail as from snout, consequently the tail is more mod- 

 erately attenuated. Head compressed like the body, and about $- length 

 of trunk; superficial bones form large mucilerous cavities which, when 

 full, must give to the head a much more evenly rounded appearance than 

 in the preserved state, when the supporting bony ridges project more or 

 less from under the skin. Snout slightly swollen, but the jaws nearly 

 even in front, the wide mouth slightly ascending forward ; maxillary with 

 the form usual in these Gadoid fishes, dilated behind, and extending far 

 behind the eye. Eye very small, \ length of snout, and ^ that of head, 

 placed high up on the side, and not possessing an orbital fold of integu- 

 ment; interorbital space rather convex and equal in width to 3 diameters 

 of eye. Teeth all very small, short, densely set, and forming villiform 

 bands, the broadest on maxillary bone and quite uncovered on the sides, 

 no labial folds being developed; palatine band broader than the man- 

 dibulary, and the vomerine band V-shaped, each arm being bent with 

 the convexity inward. Gill opening and cavity very wide and of an 

 intense black ; gill rakers much longer than the lamina 1 , 15 in number on 



