794 The Zoologist— Junk, 1867. 



commenced on the top of the head, one inch behind the orbit of the eye and midway 

 between the eye and tbe origin of llie pecloral : il readied its greatest length of fin-ray 

 just over the vent, where the longest ray was one inch and a half long : the fin ended 

 a considerable distance from the tail. The pectoral was small, and consisted of eleven 

 rays, all soft; its greatest length was one inch and a half. There was no tail-fin at 

 all: the tail consisted of a lon^ tapering bundle of caudal-rays closely attached and 

 ending in a point. There was neither ventral nor anal fin, but from the vent back- 

 wards there extended along the ridge of the belly to a little aft of the termination of 

 the dorsal a single row of very small spines, equidistant at about a quarter of an inch, 

 the forward ones inclining backward. Forward of the veut the ridge of the belly was 

 smooth. Looking at the character of the fish the head was powerfully built. From 

 tbe eyes forward there inclined a stout plane, which changed sharply to an acute angle 

 as it approached the lip of the upper jaw. At the extremity of the upper jaw there 

 were (two on each side, placed irregularly) four very long barbed teeth ; behind these 

 there was in each side of the upper jaw a single row of small sharp teeth, of which 

 three or four in each side towards the middle were larger than the others and barbed. 

 The teeth in the lower jaw corresponded, except that in place of the long ones in 

 front the lower jaw itself protruded beyond the upper, and contained at its extremity 

 two large barbed teeth, extending upwards and backwards and finding no place within 

 the upper jaw when the mouth was closed. When the mouth was shut the middle 

 teeth on either side were interlocked, but the jaws there did not close home. Close 

 behind these middle teeth there w^as a very peculiar scissors-like arrangement of the 

 jaws, which enabled them to open to a much greater extent than looked probable 

 (something after the fashion of the night-hawk's jaws). Indeed the gape of the mouth 

 from tip to tip of the two jaws was easily two inches, but afterwards, when the fish got 

 stiff the jaws would only open as far back as their apparent origin. I mention this 

 because I see one prior observer lays stress on the point that the gape is small. There 

 were no teeth in the vomer, but there was a rough process in the throat. The tongue 

 was semidetached. The eye was situate high in the head. The forward edge of its 

 orbit was one inch and six-eighths from extreme tip of lower jaw; its diameter was 

 six-eighths of an inch. Irides silvery while. The sides of the head were hard and 

 smooth. The preoperculum circular and semidetached, the operculum long and 

 acutely oval, ending in a soft membrane which overlapped the origin of the pectoral. 

 The gill-rays were so arranged as to give an unusually large surface of gill extending 

 far up under the head and jaw. The nostrils were very large, and lay close up to the 

 top of the head, just before the eyes. The lateral line starts from the point at which the 

 operculum closes on to the top of the head, exactly under the base of ihe first dorsal 

 fin-ray, and deflects with a slight curve in its incline, until at four inches, measuring 

 straight from its origin, it gets in line with the lower orbit of the eye; thence it runs 

 straight to the tail, parallel, until within a few inches of it, with the ridge of the, belly. 

 The top of the head, besides of the upper jaw and the outer part of the lower jaw, were 

 metallic-blue. The dorsal fin was semilransparent and almost colourless, but what 

 colour it had was yellowish brown, the fin-rays being daik. The rest of the fish was 

 silvery, which colour was apparently caused by a thin and delicate membrane which 

 rubbed off easily and left a dull flesh-white behind it. The specimen has been 

 preserved for our Museum. — Thomas Cornish; April 13, 1867. 



