GADOIDS. 177 



The descriptions of L. niger and of L.fragills, the other known species of 

 the genus, do not inform us of the possession of either ghmdular spindles or 

 tiie annuhir ghmd on the head. It is not at all likely, however, that these 

 species differ from L. i/litstris in regard to the particular features of the head 

 while agreeing so closely with it in other respects. The original description 

 of the lateral line of L. nhjer, Ann. Mag. N. H., (0) VIII., 34, is as follows: 

 " The scales of the very conspicuous lateral line are adherent and greatly 

 enlarged ; they lie beneath a continuous sheath of black skin, which is loop- 

 holed over a long narrow groove with raised margins situated along the 

 vertical diameter of each s^cale. These grooves are filled with an opaque 

 white substance, which probably has a luminous function. The lateral line, 

 in fact, is exactly similar to that of several species of IJalosaurus." On 

 the species secured by the "Albatross" the black skin is continuous and 

 covered by small scales, there are apparently no loopholes over the glands, 

 and no grooves along the vertical diameter of each scale, and in A^arious 

 ways the structure of the line differs considerably from that of the Halo- 

 sauri, as is shown in the description and in the figures on Plate XXXIV. 



The skull presents no very great differences when compared with that of 

 other Brotuloids, Plate XXXIV. fig. 2. Its bones are thin and fragile, and 

 are much excavated for the channels of the lateral system. The lower jaw 

 is short and very deep posteriorly, the depth being more than half of the 

 length. Preorbitals and suborbitals bear considerable expansions. The 

 operculum is much reduced in size. The occipital crest is prominent at 

 the nape and is continued downward on the back of the skull in a compai'a- 

 tively wide compressed ridge in front of the spine on the anterior vertebra. 

 In the bases of the pectorals the elongation of the carpals is not to be com- 

 pared with what is seen in Sciadonus. 



This species was obtained by the " Albatross " at two localities, both of 

 them within the Gulf of Panama. 



The specimens upon which this report is made establish the presence of 

 the Gadoids at considerable depths in the equatorial regions of the eastern 

 Pacific. They represent more than one third of the genera positively 



