FISHES OF HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
647 
placed one behind front of spinous dorsal, one behind front of soft dorsal, and one near end of soft 
dorsal; a black blotch on opercular flap and a vertical one at its anterior margin; a black dot at base of 
each anal ray, and some dusky shading on caudal and pectorals; fins otherwise unmarked. 
Only the type obtained. 
Pteropsaron incisum, new species. Plate 87. 
Type, 52 mm. long, from station 3957, off Laysan Island, depth 173 to '220 fathoms; type, No. 
51621, U. S. Nat. Mus. 
Apparently very near P. verecundum Jordan & Snyder, from Japan (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 
XXI Y, 1902, 472), differing in the absence of darker bands on back, and in the absence of scales on 
cheeks. The fin- rays, scales, and general proportions seem much the same. We find the vomer 
toothed, whereas P. verecundum is said to have it naked; but this is probably an error of observation, 
as teeth are present also on the vomer of P. evolans Jordan & Snyder, in which they are likewise said 
to be wanting. 
Head 35 hundredths of the total length without caudal; depth 12; least depth of caudal peduncle 
5; length of snout 9; length of maxillary 15; eye 11; interorbital width 1; distance from tip of snout 
to origin of spinous dorsal 40; distance from base of last dorsal spine to origin of soft dorsal 8; base 
of second dorsal 40; length of pectoral 20; length of ventrals 27. D.v-17; A. 22. Scales in lateral line 
30; transverse rows 6; rows above lateral line at front of secoqd dorsal 2. 
Form elongate, widest at opercles; head not conspicuously flattened above; snout short, acute, 
narrowly triangular as seen from above; lower profile of head rising toward tip of snout more than 
upper profile descends; mouth oblique, slightly narrowing posteriorly, where it is on lower side of 
head; maxillary reaching vertical from middle of eye; mandible everywhere included within premax- 
illaries; teeth all villiform, arranged in very narrow bands in jaws; roof of mouth containing a deep 
longitudinal mesial groove into which fits the long narrow tongue; at its anterior end the tongue 
becomes suddenly dilated to form a disk-shaped process which in the closed mouth lies against the 
vomer; median and anterior portion of vomer toothless, but each lateral portion with a small patch of 
villiform teeth; vomerine teeth and groove as here described, also present in P. evolans; we have not 
been able to examine P. verecundum in this respect; premaxillaries very protractile; premaxillary 
spines extending to slightly behind front of eyes; each preorbital ends anteriorly in a strong spine 
directed forward, the tip of snout between the 2 spines deeply notched behind the mesial portion of 
the premaxillaries; the tip of snout is notched and spinous also in P. verecundum and in P. evolans; 
opercles slightly thickened along upper margin, terminating in a very short weak spine; bones of 
head otherwise unarmed; opercular membrane notched posteriorly, the portion above the notch form- 
ing a broadly rounded lobe with fimbriate margin, that below the notch produced to a point opposite 
middle of pectoral base; below this point, the margin entire or obscurely serrulate; branchiostegals 7, 
the membranes not united across throat; gill-slits continued forward to below middle of eye; gills 31, 
the laminae exceedingly narrow; gill-rakers represented by tubercles only, 10 of these on horizontal 
limb of outer arch; pseudobranchiae developed. 
Four dorsal spines closely crowded at base, as in verecundum; fin largely jet-black, but the first 
spine produced into a white filamentous tip which extends well beyond tips of other spines and 
four-fifths the distance from its base to origin of second dorsal when the fin is declined; anal originat- 
ing below first ray of soft dorsal, and extending beyond its last ray; caudal rounded; ventrals narrow, 
not widely separated, inserted well in advance of pectorals and longer than pectorals; the third and 
fourth ventral rays equal, extending to base of fourth anal ray; ventral spine very short, as in 
verecundum. 
Scales cycloid, with entire edges, except those forming the lateral line; in the latter, the free 
margins are incised to form 3 or 4 coarse teeth. Scales entirely similar in P. evolans. Opercles and 
occiput scaled, but snout; preorbitals, cheeks, and lower side of head naked. 
In spirits, the color is light grayish or brownish above, without trace of darker bars; opercles and 
lower side of head, ventrals, and anal with much heavy white pigment; spinous dorsal black, with 
white filamentous tip to first spine; other fins unmarked. In life, the middle of the side was marked 
with 4 oblong, bright, yellowish green spots. 
Taken at the following stations: Nos. 3957, vicinity of Laysan, 173 to 220 fathoms; 3958, vicinity 
of Laysan, 173 to 182 fathoms; 3966, vicinity of Laysan, 116 to 168 fathoms. 
