114 DEEP SEA FISHES. 



latter reaching little if any behind the middle of the eye. In other 



respects the agreement is close. 



station. Latitude. Longitude. Deptb. Temperature. Bottom. 



3391 7° 33' 41)" N. 79° 43' 20" W. 153 fathoms 55.8° F. Gn. M. 



3355 7° 12' 20" N. 80° 55' W. 182 " 54.1° F. Bk. g. sh. 



3367 5° 31' 30" N. 86° 52' 30" W. 100 " 57.1° F. Rocky. 



DISCOBOLES. 



From a partial examination of the collection it was shown, in "The 

 Discoboli," 1892, p. 8, that the distribution of this group extended under 

 the tropics on the sea bottom from the Arctic to the Antarctic Ocean. 

 Since the material has been studied the evidence 1ms proved to be even 

 more conclusive than was supposed at that time. There are six new species 

 in the lot, taken between two degrees and thirty degrees of north latitude, 

 at depths of 511 to 182.3 fathoms, and in temperatures varying from 35.8 to 

 41.8 degrees Falirenheit. These low temperatures are suggestive of distri- 

 bution quite to the neighborhood of the poles ; they approximate so much 

 to those given by Nansen and others in the ftxrthest north that with the 

 animal life known to inhabit the region the presumption would appear to 

 be warranted. As yet DIscoboles are unknown from the Indian Ocean and 

 the Western Pacific; neither the "Challenger" nor the "Investigator" 

 secured any. There is some likeness between the distribution of the 

 DIscoboles to that of Cottus and its closer allies ; whether this has any 

 bearing on derivation is yet to be decided. It may be that the discovery 

 of Cottus bath//hins Glint, in the western Pacific is to be followed by knowl- 

 edge of new DIscoboles from the same parts of the world. 



The species here described were all taken from tracts of soft mud and 

 ooze on the bottom of the sea, locations in which ventral disks must be of 

 little use to the fishes, and naturally the disks are more or less obsolete. 

 On one of the species the disk is present but very small ; on four of the 

 others the disk has disappeared but more or le.ss of the pelvis remains, see 

 Plate XXVIII., fig. 2" to 2^ and Plate XXIX. figs. 1, 2, and 3. On account 

 of the presence of the pelvis, and of the amount of compression of the head 

 and body the name Mcrophorus angudifwns has been given to one of the 

 species. The pores connecting with the lateral system are large in all the 

 present species; the system itself Is confined to the head, as heretofore 

 noted for the group. The eyes In all are comparatively large, adapted no 



