Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 2509 



the anterior arch, besides some rudimentary ones above. Dorsal fin com- 

 mencing above upper end of gill opening, with short rays partly hidden 

 in the skin, becoming longer in middle of fin, but remaining of moderate 

 length ; anal shorter; pectoral with a rather narrow base, quite free, and 

 composed of feeble rays, its length only \ that of head; ventral rays very 

 feeble, reaching somewhat beyond the root of pectoral. In the specimens 

 examined only very few of the thin, cycloid scales have been preserved; 

 they are of moderate size, there being about 16 in a transverse series run- 

 ning from the vent to the dorsal fin; the lateral line, if it was developed, 

 can no longer be traced. Blackish, with the fins, head, and abdomen 

 black. Specimens of this very fine and truly bathybial fish were obtained 

 at great depths on the southeast of New Guinea, oif the Philippine Islands, 

 and in the mid- Atlantic ; the exact localities being 75 miles east-southeast 

 of Raine Island, Station 184, depth 1,400 fathoms ; two specimens, 17 and 

 4 inches long. Philippine Islands, Station 205, depth 1,050 fathoms; one 

 specimen, 5-J- inches long. Mid-Atlantic, Station 107, depth 1,500 fathoms; 

 one specimen, 5| inches long. The young are extremely similar to the old, 

 but have a larger eye, which is \ of length of head. The specimen from 

 Station 205 (Philippine Islands) has longer ventral filaments, extending 

 nearly to the vent, (Giinther.) (compressus, compressed.) 



Baihynectes compressus, GUNTHER, Ann. Mag. ^Tat. Hist., II, 1878, 20, Challenger Station 



107, mid-Atlantic, in 1,500 fathoms. (Coll. Challenger.) 

 Bathyonus compressus, GUNTHER, Challenger Report, xxn, 109, 1887. 

 Bassozetus compressus, GOODE & BEAN, Oceanic Ichthyology, 322, 1896. 



2881. BASSOZETUS CATENA, Goode & Bean. 



Head 8f ; depth 1J in head or 12^ in body; eye 5; snout 5; interorbital 

 width 5. Body very elongate, much compressed, and tapering into a 

 slender, whip-like tail. Head without spines, very cavernous, not much 

 compressed, higher than body. Interorbital area somewhat convex. The 

 muciferous channel upon the infraorbital ring shows in its course several 

 wide subcircular sinuses, closely approximated ; a similar row upon the 

 posterior edge of the preoperculum and continued forward upon the under 

 surface of the mandible ; the vertex also has a semicircle of similar sinuses. 

 Maxillary extending beyond vertical through posterior margin of orbit, 

 its length equal to that of postorbital part of head ; mandible f as long 

 as head and equal in length to height of body; jaws, vomer, and palate 

 with bands of villiforin teeth, the vomerine band V-shaped. Nostrils in 

 front of middle of eye, separated by a slight interspace, the anterior nearer 

 to its mate than to tip of snout. Branchiostegals 8; pseudobranchia) 

 absent. Gill rakers long and numerous, the longest slightly exceeding 

 diameter of eye, 15 developed below angle of first arch, besides several 

 rudiments ; dorsal origin slightly behind that of pectoral, its distance from 

 tip of snout about 7 in total, rays well developed; in the anterior of 

 the fin, in a space equal to length of head, were counted 20 rays, the long- 

 est of which is f- as long as head ; anal origin under twenty-first dorsal 

 ray, its rays shorter than those of dorsal ; pectoral extending to vertical 

 from eighteenth ray of dorsal, as long as head ; ventrals composed each 



