134 DEEP SEA FISHES. 



This species differs from Lycodes serpens in that it tapers less from the 

 back of the head forward, that the mouth is shorter, and that the teeth are 

 finer and placed closer together. It is closely allied to L. cicafrifer, but 

 tapers more from nape to snout, is less completely covered by scales, and 

 has a more rudimentary lateral line. 



Lycodes serpens sp. n. 



Br. r. 6; D. 103-105; A. 97 ; V. 3 (3-4); P. 10-17. 



The types of this species were taken with specimens of L. cmgids, from 

 ■which they differ in having a longer snout, a larger mouth, deeper and 

 shorter pectorals, and in being of a stouter build in general. The formula 

 is nearly the same in both. The head is one fifth of the total length, or a 

 little more, and the depth is not far from one fourteenth of the same ; it 

 widens toward the parietals and is somewhat widened from the nares 

 forward, and on the crown forms a very low arch, with a weak median 

 longitudinal crest behind the interorbital region. Eye medium, two thirds 

 of the snout, one fifth of tlie head ; length of orbit three times the inter- 

 orbital distance. Snout large, one and one half times the eye, wider than 

 deep, angled in front, with rounded or blunted apex when viewed from 

 above. Mouth wide, cleft subtending two fifths of the eye ; maxillary 

 extending below almost the entire orbit. Nostrils small, anterior, with a 

 short tube. Teeth small, in short bands on the jaws, in a series of six or' 

 eight on the vomer, and in a short row of four or five on the anterior ends of 

 the palatines ; outer row on the jaws of larger teeth not close together. Lips 

 well developed. Mucous cavities in the bones large ; pores large. Ventrals 

 slender, hardly as long as the orbit. Pectorals broad, half as wide as long, 

 rounded and fringed posteriorly. Dorsal origin little forward of the middle 

 of the pectoral. Anal origin from the snout twice the distance to the bases 

 of the pectorals, below the eighteenth ray of the dorsal. Scales very small, 

 not in contact, encroaching on the bases of the fins, absent from the head. 



Blackish on head and fins; brown tinged with red on the muscular 

 portions of the body. 



Length, ten and one fourth inches. 



