172 DEEP SEA FISHES. 



membranous. Teeth small, in villiform bands. Body cavity long; vent far 

 from the head. Forehead occnpied by a mass of mucus, possibly light pro- 

 ducing. Bones of the skull thin, soft. 



Sciadonus pedicellaris sp. n. 



Plate F, fig. 4. 



Br. r. 7 ; D. 89 ; A. 47 ; V. 1 ; P. 12 ; C. 6. 



Body elongate, compressed, the chamber reaching move than half of the 

 total length. Head massive, high, thick, blunt at the snout, strongly con- 

 vex on the internarial region. Eyes absent ; a faint whitish spot in the posi- 

 tions they should occupy is the only trace. Nape high. Chin prominent, 

 with a bulb or cushion at the symphysis. Mouth wide ; maxillary much 

 widened posteriorly, truncate, half as long as the head. Teeth small, in vil- 

 liform bands. Nostrils lateral ; anterior with a siiort tube ; posterior larger. 

 Gill openings wide ; membranes not united, free from the isthmus ; lamellae 

 very short, hardly longer than the rakers, which are nearly as wide as long. 

 Dorsal origin scarcely the length of the head behind the latter. Anal origin 

 below the forty-third ray of the dorsal, or thereabout, nearly midway from 

 the head to the end of the caudal. Dorsal and anal united with the caudal 

 base. Bases of the pectorals long slender pedicels, nearly as long as the 

 maxillary, half as long as the fin, which is elongate, slender, pointed and 

 almost as long as the head. The structure of tlie pectorals with the absence 

 of the eye suggests a dependence upon them as tactile organs, in addition to 

 their function as balancers. Ventrals small, of a single ray, close together, 

 below the humeral symphysis, less than one fourth as long as the head. 

 Caudal small, extending beyond dorsal and anal, to which it is united by 

 membranes, of six long rays, median longest. The entire forehead is filled 

 with mucus, which possibly may be utilized in the production of light. 



The colors of a fresh specimen were whitish, somewhat translucent Avith 

 the eggs in the ovaries orange or red, showing through the body walls. 



Total length four and one eighth inches. 



Station. Latitude. Longitude. Depth. Temperature. Bottom. 



3365 5° 31' N. 86° 31' W. 1010 fathoms 37° F. Yl. glob. Oz. 



