92 DEEP SEA FISHES. 



in the disk. Fins small ; dorsal origin midway from snout to end of 

 caudal, ba^e hardly longer than the orbit ; anal origin very little back- 

 ward of hind end of base of dorsal, Plate XXV., Fig. 5 ; caudal about 

 as long as skull from snout to nape, slightly convex on hind margin ; 

 pectorals moderately broad, shorter than the caudal, fringed ; ventrals 

 short, fringed, length one fourth of the width of the disk. 



Color brownish white, muscular portions light flesh color;, the entire 

 body evidently brilliant in life with some variety of red. 



Dibranchus hystrix sp. n. 



Plate XXIII. 



Br. r. 6 ; D. 6 ; A. 4 ; P. 13 ; C. 9. 



Tiiough in a measure resembling Dihyanchiis ailanlicns Pet. in outlines, 

 the present species has more of the characteristic-; of pediculates from great 

 depths in its skin, armature and skeleton; the skin and the tubercles are 

 smoother and the latter are farther apart, longer, and offer less resistance 

 to the touch. Body and head together form a much depressed disk in 

 which the depth is about equal to one third of its length, to two fifths of its 

 width, to tlie postorbital width of the skull proper, or to two thirds of the 

 distance from snout to nape. The form narrows anteriorly and, when in 

 ordinary position, the disk appears more elongate than that of D. atlanticus ; 

 it certainly is longer than wide. Tail narrow, round, tapering from the 

 vent. Skull highest at the nape, descending forward to the concavity on 

 the snout whence there is an abrupt rise ; transversely almost flat on the 

 crown, at the sides toward the disk the descent is somewhat rapid. Snout 

 prominent, extending beyond the mouth, deeply excavated between the 

 nostrils for the illicium, deeply notched above the na.sal sacs, concave 

 on the top, with a prominent tricuspid backward-hooking tubercle above 

 the tip. Illicium protractile, trilobate; median lobe largest and capable of 

 bending forward and down as if the hinder side was that presented as a lure 

 and in consequence of the structure invisible when the esca is retracted into 

 the subrostral recess and not in function. This view is favored by black 

 pigment on the front faces of the lobes on many specimens, and l)y 

 the traces of brilliant colors on the hinder surfaces. Nasal sacs surrounded 



