252 DEEP SEA FISHES. 



Taken in townets at the surface oflf the Cocos Islands. 



In the arrangement and j^osition of the lateral .^^eries of spots there is some 

 resemblance to what obtains in respect to the lanterns on certain scopeloids, 

 but the spot in S. simulans is merely a spot and has not the structure of the 

 lanterns. Though not properly to be classed with the lanterns it is quite 

 possible that the spots may serve as lures to bring a lantern-bearing prey 

 within reach, and it may be they give a hint as to the manner in which the 

 lantern of the scopeloid has originated. These spots differ from the other 

 groups of pigment on the body in that they are more fugitive in alcohol 

 and are deeper in the tissues. 



Synodtis acutus sp. n. 



Br. r. 17; D. 11; A. 11; V. 8 ; P. V2 ; Scales 5-5-3-6; Vert. 52; dec. 

 pyl. 18-19. 



Subfusiform, acute anteriorly, slightly compressed and tapering gradually 

 from the shoulders backward. Head small, narrowing forward ; crown 

 depressed, slightly concave, with a shallow groove on the interorbital space 

 — narrower toward the snout; length four seventeenths of the total, Avidth 

 or depth half the length. Snout as long as the orbit, wider than long, 

 pointed, slightly turned upward at the end. Mouth large ; intermax- 

 illary reaching half the orbital length backward of the eye. Teeth small, 

 slender, unequal, depressible, larger on the lower jaws, shaped somewhat 

 like an arrow-head at the cusp, in narrow bands on jaws, palatines and 

 at each side of the middle of the tongue. Anterior processes of tiie lower 

 jaws prominent, forming the end of the snout. Eye large, one fourth as 

 long as the head, orbit cutting the profile of the crown. Cheek with four 

 rows of large scales. 



Dorsal origin midway from snout to adipose fin, very near the end of the 

 anterior third of the total length ; extreme length of the depressed fin 

 equalling that of the ventrals; third ray as long as the head behind the eye. 

 Pectorals shorter than the ventrals, three fifths as long as the head. Origin 

 of the adipose fin above the sixth ray of the anal. Caudal deeply forked. 



Scales of the lateral line with a ridge, other scales faintly ridged to 

 merely convex. 



Back light grayish to grayish olive; flanks, below the lateral line, and 

 sides of head yellowish to silvery; belly silvery; a row of about ten brown 



