NEW OR INSUFFICIENTLY DESCRIBED FISHES. 39 
width of the mouth, which is one fourth more than its ramal 
length ; space between inner angle of nostril and mouth 1*25 in its 
distance from the tip of the snout ; tip of mandible rounded, not 
extending forward to the vertical from the front margin of the eye ; 
labial grooves short, the upper rather deeper than the lower. 
Teeth in the jaws dissimilar, in series, those of the upper 
triangular and slightly oblique, finely serrated on both edges, and 
with scarcely a trace of a notch ; those of the lower narrow, erect, 
and entire, with a moderately broad base, the anterior pair very 
small. Eye inserted midway between the tip of the snout and the 
second gill-opening, its diameter 3*5 to 4 in the preoral length, which 
is 1*66 in the interocular width. Tail short, its length 1*25 to 1*4 in 
that of the head and trunk. 
First dorsal fin inserted one half nearer to the pectoral than to 
the ventral, its anterior border linear, with the outer angle obtusely 
pointed , the posterior angle produced and acute, not nearly reach- 
ing to the vertical from the ventral; vertical height of fin one tenth 
more than its basal length. Second dorsal inserted about one eighth 
nearer to the tip of the tail than to the origin of the first dorsal ; 
intei dorsal space 1*2 in the predorsal length and 1*7 time the base 
of the first dorsal. Caudal fin long, the upper angle obtusely 
pointed ; anterior border of lower lobe 2*1 in the upper lobe. 
Origin of anal opposite to that of second dorsal, its length 1*2 in 
its distance from the caudal, which is V2 to 1*4 in that from the 
ventral. Pectoral inserted a little nearer to the tip of the snout 
than to the ventral and extending to below the end of the first 
dorsal, the anterior and posterior borders convex, the outer eniar- 
ginate ; upper angle pointed, lower rounded. Space between 
ventral and anal 3 to 3*2 in its distance from the pectoral. 
Gill-openings wide, the last 1*5 in the third, which is 2*5 to 3 
times the eye-diameter. 
Ash blue above, white below. 
Described from two specimens, measuring 164 and 187 millim., 
taken by Mr. James Hirst Stevens in Bustard Bay and at Nor- 
"West Islet. 
The most noticeable character in this species is the extreme 
shortness of the postventral portion of the body, which is at least 
