242 WAITE 
Teeth.—There are several rows of sharp teeth in the jaws and 
a closely plicated membrane behind them. 
Fins —The dorsal fin commences midway between the edge of 
the upper jaw and the base of the caudal, its longest rays are 
twice the length of the eye; the anal has a slightly more anterior 
insertion and is continued further back, its posterior rays are 
longer than the corresponding ones of the dorsal and attain 
nearly to the base of the caudal rays: the pectorals are connected 
to the body by membrane beneath the humeral spine, and are 
of great size, reaching to beneath the base of the 5th dorsal spine, 
the lower nine rays are thickened, and are successively shortened ; 
the ventrals are separate, disposed horizontally and quite flat, 
the last or longest ray being 1.6 in the head; the caudal is 
rounded. 
Scales.—Body scaleless. The lateral line arises above the 
humeral spine and passes along the upper edge near the dorsal 
fin, but suddenly drops on the caudal peduncle to the middle 
of the tail, and is continued nearly to the end of the caudal 
rays. 
Colowrs.—Head and body above the lateral line, greyish brown 
mottled below, the lateral line is without markings, and the 
appearance of longitudinal stripes is thus produced: lower 
surfaces colourless: dorsal fin mottled, pectorals and caudal dark 
grey with white margins. 
Length—426.mm., the largest specimen preserved measures 
555 mm. 
Taken from the Canterbury Bight northward to the Bay of 
Plenty, at depths between 28 and 78 fathoms. 
Hitherto Kathetostoma laeve Bloch and Schneider, has been 
regarded as a New Zealand species, and K. giganteum Haast 
placed as a synonym. Our specimens are, however, distinct, 
and I am obliged to Mr. A. R. McCulloch for comparing 
specimens with Australian examples: he mentions that the bony 
ridges on the head are not broken up into tubercles as in K. 
giganteum, and that the antero-posterior dimensions of the bony 
area is greater than the interorbital space, while it is equal to 
it in our form; the fringes between the chin and the ventral 
spines are neither so numerous nor so well defined in K. laeve, 
and in this species the lateral line is much better defined: lastly, 
the colour pattern of K. laeve tends to form transverse bars, 
while in K. giganteum they are longitudinal. The New Zealand 
species grows to an enormous size, the type being 740 mm, in 
length. Gill placed this species as a synonym of Geniagnus 
maculatus, but I find it to be a true Kathetostoma, allied to 
