ATOPICIITIIYS OBTUSUS. 337 



Atopichthys obtusus sp. n. 

 Plate LX VII. fig. ^, ^a. 



Body very narrow and deep, greatest depth near the middle, about 

 one ninth of the total length, comparatively short, upper and lower out- 

 lines curving with much regularity, body cavity entirely within the for- 

 ward half of the total. Head small, short, nearly one twelfth of the entire 

 length, wider than the neck, hardly as wide as deep, subconical, blunt 

 at the end of the snout, ai'clied above the orbits, crown convex trans- 

 versely and slightly so longitudinally. Snout rounded, not sharp, one and 

 one third times as long as the eye, one fourth as long as the head. Mouth 

 large, extending backward of a vertical from the middle of the eye, jaws 

 about equal. Eyes large, lateral, prominent, nearly one sixth as long as the 

 head, iris silvery. Teeth subconical, very small. Nostrils small ; posterior 

 close in front of the middle of the eye ; anterior tubular, near tlie end of 

 the snout at the edge of the lip overhanging the mouth. Gill opening ver- 

 tical, narrow, not as wide as the ej'e, forward of the base of the pectoi-al. 

 Vent below the fiftieth muscular segment. Muscular segments fifty plus 

 sixty-nine. 



Pectorals rather broad, twice as long as the orbit, about one third as long 

 as the head, rounded on the hind margin. Vertical fins confluent, broaden- 

 ing near the caudal, which latter is short and blunt. 



Translucent to transparent, with black pigment in a series of spots 

 backward from the seventeenth or the eighteenth muscle-segment, close 

 below the median line of the flank, to the tail — commonly one but some- 

 times two spots on each segment, in a short series of four or five dots 

 inside of each gill membrane on the throat, in a couple of irregular series 

 below the intestine — more numerous backward, and in a line of faint dots 

 to be seen along the bases of the anal rays. 



Total length four and three eighths, greatest depth one half, length of 

 head three eighths, and snout to vent two and one eighth inches. 



station. Latitude. Longitude. Depth. Teniperature. Bottom. Time. 



33S6 7° 33' 12" N. 79° 17' 15" W. 242 fathoms 4b° F. Fue. g3^ S. Mar. 8, 1891, -i^ 54"' p.m. 



