no. 2075. FISHES FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA— GILBERT. 325 



snout being 55, 69, and 46 hundredths, respectively. The width of 

 head and interorbital area are appreciably less, and the caudal 

 peduncle is more slender. M. nigrqfulvus Garman from the vicinity 

 of Panama, is very similar, but has apparently a slightly shorter 

 maxillary, which does not extend past the orbit, and also slightly 

 smaller scales. But the two may be identical. 



MELAMPHAfis BISPINOSUS, new species. 

 Plate 15, fig. 5. 



Type-specimen. — Cat. No. 75809, U.S.N.M., 75 mm. long, from sta- 

 tion 4382, off the Coronado Islands near San Diego, 642 to 666 fathoms. 



Dorsal II, 11; anal I, 8; pectorals, 13 in each fin; ventrals I, 7 on 

 each side. Scales fallen, the pouches indistinct, probably 23 to 25 

 in number. Gill-rakers 9 + 15 in number, the one in angle included 

 with the upper set. 



Length of head, 43 hundredths of total length without caudal; 

 length of snout, 12.5; diameter of eye, 5; least interorbital width, 

 16.5; length of maxillary, 16; length of longest gill-raker, 6.5; depth 

 at occiput, 28; greatest width of head, 20; greatest depth of body, 

 30; least depth of caudal peduncle, 12; length of caudal peduncle 

 from last anal ray, 26; distance from tip of snout to base of pectoral, 

 41.5; to ventrals, 40; to front of dorsal, 47; to front of anal, 63; 

 length of dorsal base, 23.5; of anal base, 10; length of pectoral fin, 29. 



Snout rather long, gently declivous, 2 J- times the diameter of the 

 eye; mandible scarcely protruding, without symphyseal knob; cleft 

 of the mouth oblique, the maxillary slightly passing the middle of 

 the eye, a trifle less than the interorbital width; posterior margin of 

 preopercle nearly vertical, the anterior crest with two or three teeth 

 at angle, the lower limb with well-marked diverging striae, forming a 

 continuous series with those on the interopercle; opercle with a 

 strong ridge running upwards and backwards, and one downwards 

 and backwards, continued across the subopercle; the upper portion 

 contains a set of strong diverging striae; subopercle produced up- 

 wards and backwards to form a long pointed projection distinct from 

 the posterior margin of the opercle. Occipital region of the skull 

 firm and cartilaginous in texture; no cartilaginous area about the 

 orbit; crests thin and papery, high, but less so than in P. beani, from 

 the Atlantic. The ridge formed on the median line by the lower 

 mandibular crests is much lower, and the upper lateral mandibular 

 expansions fail to meet those from the suborbitals, and thus do not 

 conceal the maxillary; the area between the occipital crests is narrow, 

 its width not greater than the diameter of the eye; a vertical plate 

 in the mesethmoid replaces the spine seen in P. unicornis and 

 cristiceps. 



