216 
Mr. A. Alcock on the Bathybial Fishes 
Family Pleuronectidae. 
SCIANECTES, Alcock. 
Scianectes, Alcock, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, yol. lviii. pt. ii. p. 284. 
This genus was established to include two Indian species 
(Sc. lophoptera and Sc. macrophthalmus) , taken in 68 to 100 
fathoms by the c Investigator/ and represented at the time by 
only three small specimens. The c Investigator 7 has since 
collected several fine specimens of Sc. macrophthalmus , from 
the examination of which several errors in the original diag- 
nosis have been detected. 
I beg now to amend that diagnosis and to place Scianectes 
in what now appears to me to be its proper position, near 
Lceops , Gthr. 
Cleft of the month narrow, the maxillary being less than a 
third the length of the head, with the dentition much more 
developed on the blind side. Vomerine teeth present. The 
dorsal fin commences before the eye on the snout. Eyes on 
the left side, close together. The rays of the vertical fins 
simple, elongated, weak, and filamentous. Scales minute, 
very deciduous. Lateral line with a curve above the pectoral. 
Gill-membranes united at the throat. 
17. Scianectes macrophthalmus , Alcock. 
Scianectes macrophthalmus, Alcock, J. A. S. B. vol. lviii. pt. ii. p. 292, 
pi. xvi. fig. 4 ; and Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. November 1889, p. 398. 
B. 6. D. 85-88. A. 68. L. lat. circ. 95. 
Body pyriform, very delicate, its height about in the 
total without caudal. The length of the head is one third 
of the same standard and rather less than its height. Snout 
obtuse, about half as long as the eye. Eyes on the left side, 
close together, separated by a salient decliving ridge, the 
lower slightly in advance; their major diameter about one 
fourth the length of the head. Cleft of the mouth nearly 
vertical ; length of the maxilla a little more than one fourth 
that of the head ; the lower jaw projecting in repose. Villi- 
form teeth in a band on the blind side of each jaw and in a 
patch on the vomer. 
Gill-cleft very high ; the opercles thin and the branchio- 
stegal rays prolonged : gill-membranes broadly united ; gill- 
rakers distant, small, lanceolate. 
Scales minute, thin, smooth, deciduous. Lateral line 
salient, curved above the pectoral, continued right along the 
caudal fin. 
