FISHES OF HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
587 
to the basal half of the rostrum, which is more robust than in Nemichthys, and wholly lacks the charac- 
teristic snipe-like aspect of the latter; jaws tapering to very delicate slender tips, and closely apposed 
for their entire length; lower jaw slightly longer than upper; gape extending to below posterior border 
of eye; maxillaries terminating anteriorly at a point midway between tip of snout and front of eye, the 
anterior half of beak composed of the elongate vomer alone; teeth as in Nemichthys, all reduced to 
small granular plates, arranged in quincunx on the jaws and vomer, each ending in a short acute tip 
directed posteriorly; vomerine band wide posteriorly, then tapering to a point opposite the nostrils; 
maxillary and mandibular bands narrower than in Nemichthys, none of upper band and only a narrow 
strip of the lower inserted on the lateral aspect of the jaw ; nostrils as in Serrivomer, consisting of 2 
short slits, in front of the middle of eye, the anterior shorter than the posterior; gill-slits long, very 
oblique, confluent below, the membranes united inferiorly and free from the isthmus; gills 4. As in 
Serrivomer, no lateral line can be detected. 
Dorsal and anal beginning at nearly the same vertical, which is half the length of head behind 
gill-opening; anterior dorsal rays extremely delicate and difficult to detect, none shortened or spine- 
like; anal somewhat higher than dorsal, the rays longer and more crowded in the posterior portions 
of both fins. 
Upper half of body light grayish, covered with fine black pigment specks; the lower half of side 
abruptly jet-black; head all black save tips of jaws and the occiput, which are a little lighter; posterior 
sixth of tail wholly black; all the fins light-colored. 
A single specimen known. 
Nematoprora, new genus. 
Like Nemichthys, but without pores along the lateral line, and with pavement-like teeth which do 
not bear backwardly-directed spinous tips, like those present in Nemichthys and related genera. 
Tail ending in a long filament; dorsal beginning on nape and without differentiated spinous 
portion; anal origin immediately behind tips of pectorals; jaws exceedingly attenuate, recurved; the 
nostrils are round pores, the posterior behind and above the anterior; branchial membranes are torn 
anteriorly in the type specimen, but the branchial clefts were apparently wide. 
Nematoprora Gilbert, new genus of Nemichthyidx (polygonifera). 
Nematoprora polygonifera, new species. Fig. 234. 
Type, 315 mm. long, from station 4151, vicinity of Bird Island, depth 313 to 800 fathoms; No. 
51589, U. S. Nat. Mus. 
Head 7.5 hundredths of total length; greatest depth 2.2; least depth at nape 1; distance from tip 
of snout to front of dorsal 7; from tip of snout to vent 8.5; length of snout 5.5. 
Greatest depth of body near middle of its total length; contours not approximately parallel for a 
considerable portion of its length as in Nemichthys, but converging gradually to the filiform tail, and 
forward to the very narrow “neck;” head extremely slender, little deeper than the neck, about three- 
Fig. 234 —Nematoprora polygonifera Gilbert, new species. Type. 
fifths the greatest depth of body; eye small, in the posterior two-sevenths of head, its diameter twice 
the width of the flat interorbital space, a little more than one-third the postorbital length of head; 
upper jaw a little longer than the lower, with no indication of mutilation; teeth pavement-like, with 
slightly rounded surfaces, and arranged in oblique series. 
Dorsal rays extremely delicate, the anterior very short and slender throughout, the median and 
posterior rays longer, with a thicker base and a very attenuate tip. In a poorly preserved specimen, 
