LIOPROPOMA LONGILEPIS 45 



TELEOSTEA. 

 ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



PEECOIDS. 



In present knowledge of the group there is little concerning species of 

 the Percoitls at very great depths. Possibly it is because of greater wariness 

 and activity that they are so rare in our collections, yet it may be that their 

 habits and activity prevent them being carried below the reach of the sun- 

 light as readily as forms habitually resting on the bottom of the sea, like 

 Pediculates or Ophidioids. While future collecting will greatly increase the 

 numbers from the depths, it maj^ do it without clianging the proportions, as 

 compared with other groups, to any very great extent. The greatest depth 

 at which a species has been reported heretofore is that of Brephostoma Car- 

 penteri, from the Bay of Bengal, at 1520 fathoms, discovered by Alcock and 

 classed as one of the Serranidce. The nearest approaches to this have been 

 in the cases of an Anthias, from the western part of the north Atlantic, at 

 524, and an Epigonus, from the European coasts, at 530 fathoms. None of 

 the others of the twenty-five or more species in the list descends below 350 

 fathoms. Each of the following divisions contains representatives of three to 

 four of the genera: the eastern and the western parts of the north Pacific, 

 the western part of the south Pacific, the eastern and the western parts 

 of the north Atlantic and the northern part of the Indian Ocean. Anthias is 

 the only genus found to be included in so many as three of the divisions ; 

 and from it, as from the others, there is little to be drawn relating to con- 

 nections or affinities between types from the different regions. 



SERRANID^. 

 Liopropoma longilepis sp. n. 



Br. r. 7 ; D. VIII, 12 ; A. Ill, 8 ; V. I, 5 ; P. 15 ; LI. 78 ; Ltr. 4 + 26 ; 

 Vert. 24. 



In this species the form is moderately elongate and compressed ; it tapers 

 from the dorsal and the ventrals to the end of the snout ; the depth is about 

 one sixth of the total length, and the greatest width three fourths of the 

 depth. Head equal to one third of the length from the snout to the base of 



