ATOPICIITHYS CIXCTUS. 329 



Atopichthys cinctus sp. n. 

 Plate LXVI. figs. 2, 2 a. 



Deeply compressed in the body ; greatest depth behind the middle, about 

 one eighth of the total length ; upper and lower outlines curved, converg- 

 ing more rapidly behind the vent; Avith one himdred and eleven transverse 

 muscle bands forward of the vent and twenty-seven behind it. Head small, 

 one sixteenth of the total, narrow, sharp pointed at the snout, tapering 

 regularly from the body ; crown concave in front of the eye, longitudinally 

 sinuous in outline, transversely convex. Snout acute, nearly one third of 

 the head, lower jaw hardly shorter. Eyes large, lateral, two sevenths as 

 long as the head, nearly as long as the snout ; iris silvery, edged with black 

 around the pupil, with a black bar along the top. Mouth large, reaching 

 almost to a vertical from the middle of the eye ; prominence of the angular 

 little forward of a vertical from the hind edge of the orbit. Teeth sectorial, 

 compressed, acuminate, with a low ridge on the outer side, inclined forward; 

 those on the upper jaws abruptly becoming smaller and closer together 

 below the posterior nostril ; an anterior larger protruding canine in each 

 series. Nostrils small ; posterior on the level of the middle of the eye and 

 close to the front edge of the orbit ; anterior near the end of the snout and 

 at a short distance from the lip. Gill openings narrow, one third as wide 

 as the eye, in front of and extending slightly lower than the bases of the 

 pectorals. Vent near the one hundred and seventh muscular segment. 



Pectorals small, half or less than half as long as the eye, as broad as 

 long ; rays short, radiating from a rounded base that is more than a semi- 

 circle. Vertical fins continuous around the tail ; dorsal little longer than 

 the anal ; caudal small, pointed. Caudal rays and those of anal distinct, 

 the latter short ; those of the dorsal are visible to a distance from the 

 caudal equal to twice the length of the anal. 



Translucent to transparent. "With black pigment in two groups of three 

 small dots each at each side of the throat below the operculum, in a series 

 of dots on each flank between the muscles and the intestine, in a much closer 

 series of smaller dots along the bases of the anal and the caudal, and in a 

 few dots along the bases of the hinder rays of the dorsal fin. 



Though in general this species bears some resemblance to the A. alius 

 of Richardson, 1848, Voy. Ereb. & Terr., Fish, 51, PI. XXX. fig. 8-10, it is 



