MACRURUS ANGULICEPS. 213 



Lengtli of the body cavity one and fonr fifths times the length of the head. 

 Head at the nape three fifths as wide as high, moderately convex on the 

 sides, slightly concave or nearly flat on the crown. Snout wide, shovel-shaped 

 and pointed and bearing three prominent angles at the end. Prominent 

 suborbital, narial, and rostral keels, and a prominent orbital ridge on the 

 upper and hinder half of each orbit. The snout is quite prominent and is 

 wider than the interorbital space ; the rostral ridge is high between the nos- 

 trils; the narial ridges curve outward anteriorly and each ends in a blunt 

 angle which like the median is crowned by a group of small teeth-like 

 spines ; its length is one and one fourth times that of the eye, one and one 

 half times the width of the interorbital space, which latter equals the dis- 

 tance from the intermaxillary to the end of the snout. Eye large, four fifths 

 of the snout, two ninths of the head. Month small, anteriorl}' at a vertical 

 from the middle of the snout, not reaching backward as far as the middle of 

 the eye. Teeth small, in bands, outer series in the upper jaws larger. Bar- 

 bel small, less than half as long as the eye. Suborbital ridge hardly reach- 

 ing to midway from the 63^6 to the preopercular ridge. Preopercular ridge 

 much curved and bent backward in a rounded loop toward the lower end. 

 Nape high. Second spine of the dorsal thickly set with prickles or spinules 

 on the front edge, grooved on the back, compressed, equalling in total 

 length three fifths of that of the head, ending in a flexible filament, inserted 

 above the axil of the pectoral. Posterior rays of the first dorsal short; 

 commonly there are ten rays in this fin, rarely there are nine or eleven. 

 Second dorsal low ; anterior rays very small ; base distant from that of the 

 first less than the length of the latter. Ventrals small ; origin below second 

 dorsal ray ; first ray with a filament, making its total length nearly one 

 third of that of the head ; number of ra^s usually eight, rarely seven. Anal 

 much more developed than the second dorsal, longest rays equal the width 

 of the eye. Vent close to the origin of the anal fin, below the origin of the 

 second dorsal. Tail slender, thread-like. Pectorals small, half as long as 

 the head, pointed. 



Scales harsh to the touch, with keel-like longitudinal series of low spines 

 of which there are nine or more on the wider ones ; about five scales be- 

 tween the lateral line and the dorsal fin. The groups of spines on the ros- 

 tral angles are rosettes in which the lines or series radiate from a common 

 centre. 



Length of the specimen described thirteen and one half inches. 



