L^MONEMA GRACILLIPES. 187 



Lsemonema gracillipes ^p. n. 



Plate XLII. figs. 1, 1 a. 



Br. r. 7; D. VI, 63-68; A. 61-64; V. 2 (5-6) ; P. 21-23 ; 1.1. 171 ; Ltr. 

 14 -\- 39 c;i. 



Elongate, compressed behind the shoulders, tapering to very slender 

 posteriorly ; body cavity less than two fifths of the total. Head moderate, 

 somewhat depressed, as broad as high, little less than one fourth of the total 

 length, convex on the cheeks and in front of the nape ; crown flattened on 

 the interorbital space and forward. Snout short, broad, rounded, blunt; 

 three fourths as long as the eye, in length equal to the interorbital width. 



Nostrils close together inunediately in front of the eye, nearly equal in 

 size, anterior with a short tubular valve. Eye large, prominent, one and 

 one third times the length of the snout or the interorbital width, two 

 sevenths as long as the head. Mouth medium, cleft extending below the 

 eye ; maxillary reaching a vertical from the middle of the eye, or a trifle 

 farther. Teeth small, in villiform bands on the jaws, and in a small group 

 on the head of the vomer. Barbel more than half as long as the eye. Four 

 gills, a slit behind the fourth ; rakers slender, longest half as long as the 

 eye, 5 -j- 1'^ on the forward edge of the first arch. Eight pyloric caica. 



Base of first dorsal short, hardly three fifths of the eye ; longest ray 

 with its filament half as long as the head, first ray above the base of the 

 pectoral. Second dorsal immediately behind the first, more developed than 

 the anal ; hinder rays reaching to the bases of the median caudal ra3-s. 

 Anal fin not so deep as the dorsals, longest rays near the vent, posterior 

 rays not reaching as far back as those of the dorsal, shortest vaya near the 

 middle of the fin, origin below the twelfth rav of the second dorsal. Caudal 

 narrow, separated from dorsal and anal, hind margin convex, length about 

 one and a half times that of the eve. Pectorals short, comparatively broad, 

 pointed. Ventrals slender, second ray little longer than the head, first ray 

 shorter, free for more than h.alf of its length ; rudimentar}- rays visible only 

 by dissection, most developed in the young. 



Scales small, covering body and head, absent from part of the snout, in 

 fourteen series above the lateral line and thirty-eight below it, one hundred 

 and seventy-one scales on the line from head to tail. Lateral line distinct 

 to the caudal. 



