189-1.] A. Alcock — Becent Collection of Bathylial Fishes. 129 



of the head. Jaws and teeth equally developed on both sides, each 

 jaw being armed with a single row of long slender depressible teeth. 

 Eyes on the left side. The dorsal fin commences near the tip of the 

 snout, its rays, and those of the anal, being simple, slender, and 

 scaleless. Scales minute, membranous, hardly imbricate. Lateral line 

 with a strong curve above the pectoi^al. Gill-openings wide, the gill- 

 membranes united to the isthmus in front. Gill-i^akers none. 



16. Ghascanopsetta lugubris, n. sp., PI. VI., fig. 4. 

 B. 7. D. 115. A. 80. C. 16. V. 6. 



Body long, low, tapering, the dorsal profile considerably more 

 convex than the ventral. The greatest height of the body is about 

 one-fourth, and the length of the head about one-fifth of the total, 

 caudal included. 



Mouth-cleft very wide, oblique, with the lower jaw strongly pro- 

 jecting : the maxilla, which is hardly expanded posteriorly, is about 

 three-quarters the length of the head, — reaching nearly to the angle 

 of the properculum. Each jaw is armed with a single row of sharp 

 curved teeth of two sizes, the larger fairly regulai'ly alternating with 

 the smaller : those of the lower jaw are very close-set, and are strongly 

 depressible inwards across the floor of the moath : those of the upper 

 jaw are more distant, not so strongly depressible, and rather smaller. 

 Tongue large, free, with a long styliform point. 



The eyes, which are on the left side, are large (their major 

 diameter being about two-sevenths of the length of the head), close-set 

 (less than a-thiid of a diameter apart), and nearly equal in fi'ont. 

 The snout proper is short — about two-thirds the length of the eye. 

 The nostrils ai-e minute pores situated in front of the interorbital space. 



The gill-openings are wide, the gill-membranes being free pos- 

 teriorly : the gill-arches are extremely weak and slender, the gill-laminae 

 are delicate, and there are no gill-rakers. 



The body and the post-orbital portion of the head are covered with 

 minute membranous hardly imbricating scales, which are somewhat 

 enlarged along the lateral line. The lateral line on both sides has a 

 strong sinuous curve above the pectoral fin. 



The fin-rays are weak and filiform : the dorsal begins in front of 

 the eye, on the snout. The caudal peduncle is strongly constricted, 

 and expands again at the insertion of the fin, which is long and 

 pointed, — 6 1 in. the total length. The pectorals are slender: that on 

 the coloured side is much larger than its fellow, its upper I'ays being 

 nearly as long as the caudal. Both ventrals are well developed. 



Colours : dull dusky brown, the peritoneum showing through as a 

 black patch ; iris and fins black ; tongue dusky brown, 

 J. II. 17 



