ACANTHIDIUM PROFUNDORUM. 219 



from which it is separated by a shallow notch. Scales very small, base stellate 

 to polygonal, peduncle crowned with three (to four) acuminate cusps, along the 

 outer surface of each of which a keel is apparent. Spiral intestine of seventeen 

 circuits. 



Total length 34, snout to vent 24, snout to dorsal spine 14, snout to pectoral 

 8?, snout to mouth 4|, and caudal fin 62 inches. 



Ashy brown, probably greenish in life, darker on head, snout and back and 

 upper parts of fins; a whitish hind border on the pectorals; lighter on the hind 

 margins and inner angles of other fins; lower surfaces lighter. 



Yenoura, Suruga Gulf, Japan. Alan Owston. 



ACANTHIDIUM PROFUNDORUM. 



Nasisqualus profundorum Smith & Radcliffe, 1912, Proc. U. S. nat. mus., 41, p. 681. 



Form elongate. Head broad, depressed. Body and tail compressed; tail 

 short. Snout long, wide, bluntly rounded at the end. Nostrils at nearly two 

 thirds of the distance from the mouth to the end of the snout, transverse, width 

 about equal to their distance apart. The deep straight obhque grooves across 

 each angle of the mouth do not meet in front by less than half their length. 

 Upper teeth triangular, pointed, erect; lower broader, with cutting edges directed 

 toward the sides of the head. Dorsal fins nearly equal in length; anterior lower, 

 its spine half as high as the fin, little exposed, and placed above the hind edges 

 of the pectorals; second dorsal taller, especially so near the spine, wliich latter 

 is more than half as high as the fin, more than half exposed, and rises above the 

 axils of the ventrals. Ventral fins smaller than the second dorsal, their bases 

 wholly in front of its spine. Origin of supracaudal close to end of second dorsal. 

 Pectorals moderate, rounded at the angles. Claspers of male long, straight, 

 acuminate. Spiracles large, behind the eye and distant from it more than the 

 spiracular diameter. Scales small, pedicellate, each with three sharp cusps, 

 bent backward, of which the median cusp is a httle longer. Closely allied to 

 A. rostratum but readily distinguished by the origin of the first dorsal which is 

 farther forward, above the ends of the pectorals. 



Uniform dark brown. 



Of the types a mature male measured 17.3 inches, a female 23.2 inches. 



Philippines, between Leyte and Mindanao, at 736 fathoms (736-976), and 

 between Marindugue and Luzon, at 736 fathoms. The depths ranged from 392 

 to 976 fathoms. 



