168 WAITE 
Thoracic—Four, the pore immediately in front of the ventral 
fin, and raised above the line of the thoracic pores, has been 
counted as an anterolateral. 
Ventral_—Four, the first immediately behind the ventral fin. 
Anal.—Fifteen, a break between the eighth and ninth; the 
anterior series is slightly convex above, the posterior one is 
straight. 
Caudal.—Two, close together, the hinder one slightly raised 
in position. 
Supercaudal (in all examples).—Small, occupying three 
seales. 
Length.—81 mm., largest 92 mm. 
The example obtained was ejected by a Dory, and was some- 
what digested. The Dory was one of many taken in the Bay 
of Plenty, at a depth of 66-94 fathoms. Several specimens of 
M. humboldti were thrown aboard the trawler during the night 
of August 13th, when we rode out a storm off Cape Palliser. 
I have associated the specimens obtained with M. humboldti 
with the published descriptions of which it well agrees. In 
suggesting the identity of M. boops with M. humboldti, Liitken+ 
added the Pacific to its habitat, but as I do not possess 
authenticated examples of either I am unable to write with more 
certainty than Liitken. My examples, however, agree much 
more nearly with the descriptions of M. humboldti than with 
that of Richardson, for in WV. boops the pectoral is described and 
figured as reaching to the anus, whereas in my examples, as with 
M. humboldti it attains but to the middle of the dorsal. 
According to Richardson his specimen possessed both occipital 
and mandibular photophores, neither series occurring in the 
examples before me. The usual break in the anal series is not 
referred to and the dorsal fin is represented as very low; lower 
than the anal, and not half the height of the body, while the 
margin of the anal is illustrated as being straight. In these 
particulars the description does not apply to the specimens 
trawled. It has been suggested that M. californiense is identical 
with M. humboldti. 
The only other species of the genus Myctophum, as restricted, 
recorded from New Zealand, is M. hectoris Giimther®, but 
the shortness of the pectoral fin, scarcely reaching the ventral, 
coupled with the fact that the scales of the lateral line are 
rather smaller than the others, places that species out of 
consideration. A description of its photophores would be useful. 
(4) Liitken, Spolia Atlantica, ii, 1892, p. 255. 4 
(5) Gimther, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4), xvii. 1876, p. 399. 
