Gobioidei, Discocephali, and Tsniosomi 475 



names the ribbon-fish. The fortunate finder of this specimen 

 could not be persuaded to give it up or sell it, and it was its 

 fate to be pasted upon a piece of board, dried in the sun as a 

 'curio,' where, as if in retaliation at the desecration of so rare 

 a specimen, it soon disappeared. 



"This apparently was the first oarfish ever seen in the United 

 States, so at least Dr. G. Brown Goode wrote me at the time 

 that it had not been reported. In 1899 another oarfish was 

 brought to me, evidently having been washed in after a storm 

 and found within a few yards of the former at Avalon. The 

 discoverer of this specimen also refused to allow it to be properly 

 preserved, or to donate or sell it to any one who would have 

 sent it to some museum, but, believing it valuable as a 'curio,' 

 also impaled it, the delicate creature evaporating under the 

 strong heat of the semitropic sun. 



"This, as stated, was the second fish discovered, and during 

 the past winter (1900) a fine large specimen came in at New- 

 port Beach, being reported by H. J. Forgy, of Santa Ana. The 

 newspapers announced that a Mexican had found a young sea- 

 serpent at Newport, and investigation showed that, as in hun- 

 dreds of similar instances, the man had found a valuable prize 

 without being aware of it. According to the account, the 

 discoverer first saw the fish alive in the surf and hauled it 

 ashore. Being ignorant of its value, he cut it up, bringing in 

 a part of the scarlet fins and a slice of the flesh. This he showed 

 to some men, and led the way to where lay the mutilated remains 

 of one of the finest oar- or ribbon-fishes ever seen. The speci- 

 men was twenty-one feet in length, and its weight estimated 

 at five hundred pounds. The finder had so mutilated it that 

 the fish was ruined for almost any purpose. If he had packed 

 it in salt, the specimen would have returned him the equivalent 

 of several months' labor. Apparently the man had cut it up 

 in wanton amusement. 



"This recalls a similar incident. I was on one occasion 

 excavating at San Clemente Island, and had remarked that 

 it was a singular fact that all the fine stone ollas were broken. 

 'Nothing strange about that,' said a half-breed, one of the 

 party. ' I used to herd sheep here, and we smashed mortars 

 and ollas to pass away time." 



