158 Memoirs of the Indian Museum. [Vol. II, 



Mulichthys squamiceps , sp. nov. - 



Illustr. Zool. ''Investigator^' Fishes, plate xlvii, fig. 4 (190g). 



B. 3, D. X 20, A. iii 20, P. 19, V. i 5, ly.l. 53, I^.tr. 15. 



The head is slightly less than a third of the total without the caudal. The great- 

 est depth of the body equals the length of the head. The diameter of the eye is 

 one-third of the length of the head. In length the snout is two-thirds of the diameter 

 of the eye; it is smoothly conical and somewhat pointed. The lower jaw falls short 

 of the snout. The nostrils lie just below a horizontal line drawn through the upper 

 border of the eye and half-way between the eye and snout. The vent is equidistant 

 from the snout and the base of the tail. The body and head, including the cheeks 

 and snout, must have been covered with scales which have since fallen off, judging 

 from their areas of attachment; it is probable that the scales were approximately rhom- 

 boidal in shape. There are indications of two lateral lines as portrayed in the figure. 

 (The scale areas have been represented somewhat conventionally in the figure.) The 

 colour of the whole fish is chocolate-brown. It is probable that this fish is, like 

 Tetragonurus, an inhabitant of the intermediate depths of the ocean. 



One specimen, 11 cm. in length, taken in a trawl from the Arabian Sea, 512 

 fathoms. Station 305. Registered No. ^^^^ 



Family STROMATEID^. ' ^, /^ 



Psenes nigrescens, sp. nov. / .a,^ 



Illustr. Zool. '' Investigator," Fishes, plate xlvii, fig. 6 (1909). 



B. 6, D. ix 22-25, A. iii 21-23, V. i 5, P. 21. 



A small compressed fish with a blunt, rounded snout. The greatest height is 

 s'ightly more than half the length without the caudal. The length of the head is 2| in 

 the length without the caudal. The snout is about half the diameter of the eye. The 

 diameter of the eye is a third of the length of the head. The length and depth of the 

 head are about equal. The length of the upper jaw is equal to the diameter of the 

 eye. The angle of the lower jaw reaches nearly as far back as a vertical through the 

 centre of the eye. The pectoral fins are as long as the head behind the centre of the 

 eye. The ventral fins arise vertically below the base of the pectorals and reach as far 

 back as the first anal spine. The opercular margin above the pectoral fin shows two 

 blunt points separated by a wide and open notch. The lateral line forms a wide 

 curve. Scales cycloid. Colour dark greyish brown. Fins black, except the caudal, 

 which has a little pigment and the pectorals, which have none. A single row of small 

 teeth in both jaws. None on palatine or vomer. Many specimens were obtained in 

 the trawl from 950 fathoms. Their stomachs contained Sagitta or some allied Chsetog- 

 nathous genus in large numbers, so they were not caught at the bottom. Judging 

 from their uniform dark grey colour they were probably from the intermediate 

 depths. Andaman Sea, Station 310. Registered Nos. ^^^-^^. 



