62 DEEP SEA FISHES. 



moderate depth. Mouth wide, rising but little forward ; maxillary broad 

 and truncate posteriorly, extending to or little beyond a vertical from the 

 hind border of the orbit. Tongue broad, pointed in front, fi'ee at the 

 edges. Teeth in villiform bands which, anteriorly on the jaws, end in large 

 rounded bunches ; Plate VII., figs. 2 and 3, shows the arrangement of the 

 teeth on the jaws and the palate. Nostrils small, nearer to the eye than to 

 the end of the snout; anterior smaller, with a short tube and a long, fringed 

 dermal filament. Suprabranchial gland vertically elongate and grooved. 

 Four gills, a short slit behind the fourth; lamellce of medium length; gill 

 rakers five plus eight, with several rudiments, longest one fourth as long as 

 the eye, club-shaped. Pseudobranchite large. Scales of medium size, 

 ctenoid, on large specimens bearing dermal filaments, Plate VII., fig. 1. 

 The spines of the crown and of the dorsal fin also have filaments in many 

 cases. The pore-bearing scales of the lateral line are modified, the tube 

 being raised above the scale so as to form a longitudinal ridge along the 

 flank. Cheeks, snout, top of head, and upper portions of maxillaries 

 covered with small scales, mandibles and chin naked. 



Dorsal origin above the upper angle of the gill openiug, forward of 

 the bases of the pectorals, spines toward the soft rajs shorter ; third spine 

 on many of the specimens much longer than the second or the fourth, 

 half as long as the head, on other individuals it is hardly longer than the 

 spines at each side of it. This long spine is present on specimens of 

 two and three-eighths inches in length, in one case both the second 

 and third spines are long ; and on others much longer, the third spine 

 is short. Possibly the difference is sexual, but this canuot be deter- 

 mined from the material at hand. While apparently there are no differ- 

 ences that may be seized upon as varietal or specific in the specimens 

 from different stations, they yet group themselves in some degree when 

 compared; thus all taken at depths from 66 to 112 fathoms have the 

 elongate third dorsal spine, but seventeen from depths of 127 to 210 

 fathoms have only the short form of the same spine. Inference from 

 this is impeded by the fact that in a lot of five specimens from a depth 

 of 182 fathoms there are three that have a long third dorsal spine, while 

 on the other two that spine is short. On each of se^ral individuals 

 there are thirteen spines in front of the soft rn,ys of the dorsal. Pectorals 

 broad, pointed ; rays simple, more or less prolonged beyond the mem- 

 branes. Second spine of the anal much stronger and larger than the 



