1862. | OF FISHES FROM MADEIRA. 173 
Anal, distance from tip of mandible, mouth open.. 63 
» height in front ......... 1i 
Caudal lengthy). 2S PRE PM es oN ly 
Tail, height behind second dorsal .............. wh 
Order ACANTHOPTERYGII, Cuv. 
Fam. TRICHIURIDS. 
NESIARCHUS, gen. nov. 
Body elougate, covered with small scales. Cleft of mouth deep. 
Several strong teeth in the jaws; none on the palatine bones or the 
vomer. First dorsal not extending to the second. No finlets behind 
either the dorsal or anal fin. Perfect thoracic ventral fins present. 
Caudal fin well developed. A dagger-shaped spine behind the vent. 
No keel on the tail. One lateral line. Seven branchiostegal rays. 
An air-bladder. Pyloric czeca in moderate number. 
This genus may be entered in the Synopsis of Trichiuroid genera, 
given in the Cat. of the Brit. Mus. Collection, thus :— 
“Ventrals present : a dagger-shaped spine behind the vent.” 
NESIARCHUS NASUTUS, sp. n, (PI. XXII.) 
i, O20, 2nd D2. 21, A, 22; P.13, Vo1.A. C: vit. 8+7. 
vu, M..B: 7. 
This fish has much of the external aspect of Thyrsites prometheus. 
The body is very elongate, compressed, covered with small, deciduous, 
cycloid scales, which are elegantly marked with concentric striz ; 
the height of the hody, compared with the total length, is as 1 to 
13. The head is scaly in every part, but unarmed ; it is compressed, 
and the cheeks are flat. There is a broad groove between the eyes 
and on the snout, as in Aphanopus. The length of the head, com- 
pared with the total length, is as 1 to 43. The round eye is placed 
at the side of the head, and does not quite reach to the outline; it 
is contained 94 times in the head, is rather more than a diameter 
distant from the other eye, and each is distant about 43 diameters 
from the tip of the snout. The members of each pair of nostrils are 
distant from each other, and the hinder one is a small oblique slit. 
The bones of the scaly opercle and subopercle are thin and radiato- 
striate; the border of the former has an angular projection. The 
gill-openings are wide. The snout is long, and is terminated by a 
large conical cartilaginous process, which projects much beyond the 
jaw. The mandible has a similar but longer cartilaginous process. 
These processes (some rudiments of which may be seen in Aphano- 
pus) bestow on the head somewhat of the appearance of Sphyrena 
vulgaris. The rictus is large. The upper border of the mouth is 
formed entirely of the premaxillary, which is broad above and narrow 
below. The scaly maxillary, which lies exposed behind, and is broad 
below and narrow above, does not quite reach back to the vertical 
from the middle of the eye. The mandibular bones project a little 
beyond those of the upper jaw. 
