466 GYMNODONTID.E. 



the point of the nose to the end of the caudal fin, three feet 

 five inches ; depth of body alone one foot nine inches ; height 

 of dorsal fin one foot five inches ; across the body, including 

 dorsal and anal fins, four feet six inches : the weight one 

 hundred and twenty pounds. The Ilfracombe specimen 

 measured, from the point of the nose to the end of the caudal 

 fin, five feet one inch ; depth of body alone three feet one 

 inch ; height of dorsal fin one foot ten inches ; across the 

 body, including dorsal and anal fins, six feet nine inches : 

 weight as estimated four hundred pounds : from the point of 

 the nose to the eye eleven inches ; diameter of the orbit two 

 inches and a quarter : the irides greyish brown, with a bright 

 straw-coloured ring near the pupil ; the pectoral fin is lodged 

 in a depression ; the basal attachment of each fin is thick and 

 fleshy. In these adult fish the skin is generally of a dingy 

 greyish brown, the colour becoming lighter towards the belly ; 

 the texture of the skin very hard, thick, and rough. These 

 adult fish are also longer in the body, compared to their 

 depth, than young fish ; the latter, without including the 

 caudal fin, being almost round. 



The second figure of this fish here given, and the descrip- 

 tion, are taken from a preserved specimen in the Museum of 

 the Zoological Society. This is the smallest example I have 

 seen. Tt measures but fourteen inches from the point of the 

 nose to the end of the body ; the breadth of the caudal fin 

 two inches ; the depth of the body eleven inches and a half : 

 the length of the dorsal fin eight inches ; of the anal fin, 

 seven inches and a half: the extension of skin connecting the 

 fin-rays rather thick. The mouth small ; the branchial aper- 

 ture just in advance of the pectoral fin, small and oval ; the 

 vent just before the anal fin ; the caudal fin occupying the 

 whole space between the anal and dorsal fins, and attached to 

 the posterior vertical edge of the body as by a long hinge ; 

 the surface of the body in this young specimen but slightly 



