Reports on the Scientific Results of the Expedition to the Tropical 

 Pacific, in Charge of Alexander Agassiz on the U. S. Fish Com- 

 mission Steamer "Albatross" from August, 1899, to March, 1900, 

 Commander Jefferson T. Moser, U. S. N., commanding. 



THE LANTERN FISHES. 



By CHARLES HENRY GILBERT. 



(Published by permisaion of Gbo. M. Bowebs, U. B. Commls&ioner of Fiah and Fisheries.) 



The collections, which form the subject of the present paper, were made 

 by the " Albatross," during the month of September, 1899, on a cruise from 

 San Francisco to the Marquesas Islands and thence to Tahiti of the Society 

 Islands. Frequent hauls were taken with the surface net and the open 

 intermediate net to a depth of .300 fathoms. Fifteen species of Lantern 

 Fishes were obtained, five of which are described as new, the others being 

 known variously from Australia, the China Seas, Hawaii, the Pacific Coast 

 of tropical America, or Southern California. One species is known also 

 from the Eastern Atlantic. A very wide distribution is thus shown for the 

 pelagic fishes of the tropical Pacific. 



Myctophum affine (Lutken). 



Scopelus affinis Liitken, Spolia Atliintica, 1892, 2, p. 32. 



Myctophum nitidulum fiarnian, Jlem. Mus. Comp. Zobl., 1899, 24, p. 266, pi. .56, fig. 3. 

 Rhinoscopelus oceanicus Jordan and Evermann, Bull. U. S. Fish Com., 1903, 22, p. 108. 

 Myctophum margaritatum Gill)ert, Bull. U. S. Fisli Com., 1905, 23, p. 596, pi. 68, fig. 2. 



Direct comparison of types has failed to develop any differences between 

 Mijdophum affine from the Atlantic and 31. nitidulum, M. oceanicum, and 

 M. margaritaium from the Pacific. The oldest name, affine, is here used. 



The species has been shown to be abundant throughout the Hawaiian 

 Group as far to the west as Laysan Island and as far to the northeast as 

 Lat. N. 28° 1.3' 42", Long. W. 145° 44'. The present collection extends the 



