2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. QI 



Dorsal i6. Anal 21, the anterior rays more elongate. Pelvic 8. 

 Caudal (counting from above downward) 7+10 + 9 + 6. Gill-rakers 

 on first arch long and slender, with minute asperities, 5 on upper limb 

 and 10 on lower. Pseudobranchiae well developed. Scales mostly 

 lost, but there appear to be about 30 scale pockets in the midside series. 



Teeth in jaws uniserial, conical, and sharp. On the premaxillary 

 the teeth are rather small, but with some enlarged on the expanded 

 part. Median part of upper jaw toothless, the first tooth on each 

 premaxillary enlarged and directed forward and inward. Teeth of 

 maxillary extremely close set, every fourth to sixth tooth enlarged ; 

 all of them strongly directed forward, those of the anterior part point- 

 ing almost straight forward. Mandibulary teeth larger than those 

 of maxillary, close set, every seventh or eighth tooth enlarged. A 

 single series of small conical teeth on each palatine, the first one 

 enlarged. Two large patches of tiny pterygoid teeth in the roof of 

 the mouth. 



Photophores : One preorbital (Orb) photophore directly in front 

 of eye, embedded in the proximal end of the maxillary bone. Three 

 opercular (Op) photophores, one along the preopercle-opercle junc- 

 tion, one beneath the subopercle. and one directly behind the articula- 

 tion of the mandible. No symphysial (SO) photophore. Branchi- 

 ostegal (Br) photophores 11. Body (BO) photophores 14, arranged 

 peculiarly. Up to the tenth the}^ are in a straight, compact series, but 

 the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth are displaced upward in an ascending 

 series. The thirteenth is set directly below the twelfth (that is, in a 

 line with the first 9) and the fourteenth follows the thirteenth directly 

 behind. It is this disjunction of the BO series that is the most notable 

 character of the new fish and the one from which the specific name is 

 derived. The pelvic base barely separates the fourteenth BO photo- 

 phore from the four pelvic (VO) ones. The supra-anal (AO) photo- 

 phores are 14 + 3 in number, the first two slightly elevated, but not 

 forming an arch as in M. obtusirostra. 



Top of head with three bony keels. The lateral ones begin together 

 at the supraoccipital region and run forward and outward till they 

 merge with the orbital rim. The median crest, more rounded in cross- 

 section than the lateral ones, begins above the pupil and runs forward 

 to the ethmoid region. Preopercular margin sharply inclined. Pos- 

 terior margin of operculum nearly straight, with a slight excision medi- 

 ally. Tooth-bearing edge of each premaxillary with a strong convex 

 expansion posteriorly. The long and uninterrupted curve of the max- 

 illary is rather strongly convex. Lower jaw bones rather deep and 

 very thin. 



