1,42 PROF. COLLETT ON A NEW PEDICULATE FISH. [Mar. 2, 



skin, a continuation of that of the body. It is directed backwards, 

 and the point of the fin extends a little beyond the root of the caudal 

 fin (about an eye's length). 



The anal fin is much like the second dorsal, and is placed right 

 beneath it ; it has two rays, which also are single. 



The caudal fin consists of nine rays, four in the upper, five in the 

 lower half. Of these the outermost are somewhat shorter than the 

 middle ones ; thus the fin is somewhat pointed. The four middle 

 rays are bifid from below the centre ; the others are simple. 



The ventral fins are wanting. 



The pectorals are small and rounded ; the pseudobrachia very 

 short. On the right side there are 14, on the left side 15 rays, 

 most of which are simple, and only the middle ones seem to be 

 bifid at the ends. The length of the pectoral (including the 

 pseudobrachium) is only 5 millim., or the length of the bulb of the 

 cephalic spine. 



The guttural tentacle is nearly 3|^ times as long as the tentacle on 

 the snout (23 millim.), or has about the same length as the distance 

 from the front of the eye to the root of the tail. It is placed on the 

 throat, at a distance from the symphysis about equal to half the 

 length of the jaw. 



It is thinner than the cephalic spine, and divides itself at the end 

 into two short pointed blades, the length of each being 6 millim. 

 Whilst the tentacle otherwise is black, the inner edges of these 

 blades are white, like the upper half of the snout tentacle, and 

 are furnished with a row of round papillae, about 30 on each, 

 resembling a chain of pearls. These small bodies undoubtedly have 

 a use, either as organs of sense or as the source of the phosphorescent 

 light '. 



The abdominal cavity is greatly distended, somewhat flattened un- 

 derneath, which is in consequence of the position the swallowed fish 

 has taken up. This fish, which undoubtedly is a Scopeloid, has a 

 length of about 70 millim., and is therefore not far from being half 

 a length longer than the specimen itself. It lies with the head and 

 the caudal fin bent backwards and the belly turned down. 



Anus. Its position cannot be given with certainty. 



T/ie sli)i is smooth throughout, and covers all the spines on the 

 head as well as the teeth. Lateral line or mucous glands cannot be 

 detected. 



The colour everywhere is jet-black, with the exception of the 

 upper half of the bulb of the tentacle on the snout, and the inner 

 margins of the ends of the guttural tentacle, which (in the preserved 

 specimen) are white, but which in the living fish have probably been 

 silvery and phosphorescent. 



The fin-rays are also black, the membrane blackish. The mouth 

 is also black, as well as the covering of the teeth. 



' A similar phosphorescent guttural tentanle is mentioned in Ewstamias 

 obscurus, captured from enormous depths during the voyage of the ' Talisman ' 

 (' La Nature,' 1884, p. 184 ; Day, ' Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland,' 

 p. xxvii). 



