328 DEEP SEA FISHES. 



Atopiclithys sicarius sp. n. 

 Plate LXVI. figs. 1-1 h. 



Narrow, elongate, slender, greatest deiDtli one eighteenth of the entire 

 length. The greatest depth is attained in the anterior fourth of the length 

 which also apparently contains the vent. From this portion the form tapers 

 gradually to the filamentary caudal. Head small, narrow, twice as long as 

 high, near one fourteenth of the total length, rather pointed at the snout, 

 slightly concave in the longitudinal outline above the posterior nostrils. 

 Snout long, less than half as long as the head, slender, blunted at the end. 

 Eyes lateral, large, situated in the middle of the length of the head, one 

 sixth as long as the latter. Nostrils small ; posterior forward of the middle 

 of the eye about one half of the latter's diameter ; anterior the same dis- 

 tance from the end of the snout and midway from the lip to the top. 

 Mouth very large, cleft reaching below the middle of the eye, jaws equal 

 in length. Teeth comparatively large, sectorial, compressed, acute, inclined 

 forward, an anterior pair on each series longer hooked and protruding as 

 canines. On each of the lower canines the upper edge bears a short den- 

 ticle near the end of the tooth. Gill openings as wide as the eye, forward 

 of and extending lower than the bases of the pectorals. Gill membranes 

 \mited with the isthmus. About fifty of the transverse muscular bands are 

 in front of the vent and about two hundred behind it. 



Pectorals small, as long as the eye, pointed, moderately broad. Dorsal 

 and anal indistinct, apparently united with the bases of tlie caudal rays. 

 Caudal narrow, elongate, acute. 



Pigment appears in a blotch on the end of the snout at each side in 

 front of the nostril, in another at the forward end of the chin, in a trans- 

 verse streak in front of the nape, in a series of spots separated from one 

 another by about twelve segments on the median line of the flank, dis- 

 appearing backward, and in a series of rather widely separated spots from 

 the throat along each side of the intestine and the anal fin. Some fainter 

 blotches appear imder the opercle. The spots along the intestine may be 

 luminous ; possibly this also may be the function of the deep seated spots 

 along the flank. 



Total length four and one half, greatest depth one fourth, and length of 

 the head five sixteenths inches. 



Station, .3357; Lat., 6° 35' N. ; Lon., 81° 44' W.; Surface tnwnet. Time, Feb. 24, C'' 17"' A.M., over 

 a depth of 782 futlaoms, with a Temp. 38.5° F. ; and ISottoiii, Gn. S. 



