80 DEEP SEA FISHES. 



Foremost dorsal spine slightly forward of a line joining the narial pedun- 

 cles, slender, rigid, reaching to the hinder end of the interorbital space, with 

 a fleshy bait on the forward side, near the end, half or more than half as 

 long as the spine itself. This spine has a very peculiar structure ; near the 

 end it forks somewhat like a boathook, one part passing directly onward 

 with a slight bend at the end, where it is round and black, the other branch 

 leaves the main stem near the end and goes forward in tlie body of the bait 

 to support a pair of hard round black bodies like the eyes of a crustacean. 

 The bait is long and slender of moderate width and hangs down in front of 

 the mouth in function, when the staff is inclined forward ; no doubt it is 

 capable of great contortions and with the luminous balls near the ends of 

 the staff must bear a striking resemblance to a living prey. The second 

 spine is close behind the first and about equal to it in length ; it is simple, 

 filamentary toward the end, and bears a number of filaments along the 

 stem. Tlie third spine is longer than the second ; it rises from the crown a 

 short distance backward of the interorbital area. Between the humeral 

 spines behind the third dorsal spine there is a group of three shorter ones, 

 not reaching the second dorsal fin and apparently not connected by mem- 

 branes, but toward their bases surrounded by a dermal mass. All fins 

 fringed ; origin of second dorsal midway from eye to base of caudal, base 

 four fifths as long as the caudal fin ; caudal narrow, subtruncate, less than 

 tliree times as long as the orbit ; pectorals broad, two thirds as wide as long, 

 broadly rounded on the margin, length equal to distance from mouth to 

 hind edge of eye ; anal origin below fourth ray of second dorsal ; ventrals 

 small, rounded at the ends, one and one half times the length of the orbit. 



Skin moderately tough, smooth, with scattered filaments, with dermal 

 flaps below the edges of the dislc and at the sides of the tail each bearing 

 several filaments ; lower surfaces smooth. 



Clouded brownish on the upper surface, whitish beneath; filaments 

 blackish; fins darkening to blackish outward, pure white on the fringes; 

 caudal blackish, with a transverse series of about six white spots behind the 

 middle. 



