MACRURUS LATIROSTRATUS. 211 



of the eye. Barbel small, half as long as the ej'o. Teoih small, in short 

 narrow villiform bands; outer series a little larger on the upper jaws. 

 Preopercular ridge slightly bent backward at the lower end. Base of 

 first dorsal two thirds as long as the space behind it; first ray short, 

 above the axil of the pectoral ; second ray three fourths as . long as the 

 head, with numerous serrations. Second dorsal very feebly developed. 

 Anal fin moderately strong, originating little farther backward than the 

 last spine of the first dorsal, distant from tlie vent. Pectorals and ventral? 

 small ; the latter little longer than the eye, ending in a filament. Caudal 

 slender, ending in a tuft of about four rays. Vent between the ventrals, 

 nearer to their bases than to the anal. 



Scales rough with keel-like series of small sharp spines ; the outer series 

 are somewhat convergent backward to the stronger median series. On the 

 larger scales of the flank there are ten or more of the keels. Between the 

 lateral line and the dorsal there are six scales. 



Belly black, muscle tracts lighter and tinted with reddish, lighter above 

 the upper portions of the skull. 



Macrurus latirostratus sp. n. 



Plate XLVIII. fig. 2. 



Br. r. 7 ; D. 12 + 120 ; A. 110 ; V. 10 ; P. 19-20. 



Elongate, compressed, greatest depth one sixth of the total length, tail 

 slender and threadlike toward the end. Head less than one fifth of the 

 total, nearly as wide as high, broad and angular forward, flattened or 

 slightly concave on the crown. Snout wider across the prenarial angles 

 than long, length one fourth more than the width of the interorbital space, 

 or one fifth less than the length of the orbit. As seen from above, the angle 

 at the tip of the snout is quite blunt and extends little farther forward than 

 the prenarial angles. From the latter the low ridges backward form an 

 acute angle at the occipital crest. The suborbital ridges are moderately 

 prominent and end about midway from the orbit to the preopercular edge ; 

 from the lateral angles of the rostrum the ridges diverge gradually in 

 nearly straight lines. Eye large, longer than the snout, nearly one third 



