LANCELET. 



623 



discovered on tlic 21st of December 1831, after a heavy 

 storm that had torn it from its native situation, which, from 

 its rarity, we may suppose to be in deep water. In February 

 1838, I obtained two other specimens, which had been 

 thrown up by a tempest. The largest measured two indies 

 and three-tenths in length, which enabled me to discern still 

 more of the internal structure of this fish." 



The Zoological Society have since received two specimens 

 of the Lancelet, which were forwarded in a small bottle, with 

 several examples of Leptocephalus Morrissii,* from the Me- 

 diterranean, by the late Dr. Leach, but no particular locality 

 was named with them. 



I had the pleasure of receiving a visit from Professor 

 Miiller when he was in London in 1837, and placed before 

 him for his examination the opened specimen of the Lancelet 

 from which I had taken my description. Professor Miiller 

 has since received two examples, and the result of his dissec- 

 tions, embodying also observations by Professors Retzius and 

 Sundevall of Sweden, will be found in the Proceedings of the 

 Academy of Berlin for 1839, page 197. The Lancelet has 

 now been taken on the coasts of Norway and Sweden. 



I overlooked the membranous folds of the abdomen and 

 the anal fin. Mr. Couch anticipated, and very kindly stated 

 the true cause of the omission, the contraction delicate 

 membranes undergo from long immersion in spirits. The 

 fish was caught in December 1831, and was examined by me 

 in the summer of 1836. These parts are thus described by 

 Mr. Goodsir : " The folds commence, minute, on each side 

 of the hyoid apparatus, pass back on the sides of the abdo- 

 men, increasing in breadth till they are as broad as one-fifth 

 of the depth of the animal ; they then diminish and terminate 

 at the point where the muscles approach on each side of the 



* Brit. Fish. vol. ii. p. 409. 



