280 DEEP SEA FISHES. 



detected on the specimens. Skin glandular, thickly beset with small papillce. 

 No pyloric appendages. A female of three and one half inches is filled with 

 mature eggs. 



Dorsal and anal near the caudal, from which they are separated as in 

 species of Stomias ; dorsal origin slightly forward of the anal, base of anal 

 extending a little farther back than that of dorsal. Ventrals widely sepa- 

 rated, little forward of the middle of the entire length, as long as the head. 

 Pectoral a single ray, slender, filamentary, inserted low on the side. 



Intense black ; mouth and stomach black ; fins lighter ; small white dots 

 scattered over the flanks and beneath. 



IDIACANTinD.E. 

 Idiacanthus antrostomus. 



Idiacanfhus antrostinnus GiUi., 1800, V. IT. S. Mas., XTIT, 54. 



Br. r. 12 ; D. 55-5 T ; A. 33-34 ; V. 6 ; Vert. ca. 79. 



Very long and slender, serpentiform, tapering comparatively little back- 

 ward, moderately compressed, narrow in the caudal region for about one 

 third of the total length. Head short, hardly more than one twelfth of the 

 total length, little more than half as wide as deep. Snout medium, broad, 

 blunt, nearly twice the length of the eye, with a sharp spine-like angle on 

 the top ; chin protruding, with a prominent symphyseal angle. Mouth very 

 large, lower jaw as long as the head, angular with a sharp corner. Teeth 

 raptorial, slender, somewhat compressed in the basal half, very sharp, 

 depressible, varying in size, in single series, arranged in groups of three to 

 five the anterior of each being small and the others increasing in size regu- 

 larly to the hinder which in the middle of the jaw is as long as the eye, 

 small at the symphyses, eighteen to twenty-one on each jaw; a pair con- 

 sisting of a medium sized tooth and a small one at each side of the vomer 

 and on each palatine ; a similar pair at each side of the tip of the tongue 

 and behind these at a short distance another pair at each side. Eye medium, 

 half as long as the snout, one seventh of the length of the head, its centre 

 on a vertical at the end of the anterior third of the maxillary. Nostrils near 



