346 SUPPLEMENT ON 



The Gempylus is a genus composed at present of three 

 species: the G. serpens, inhabits the Atlantic ; the G.prome- 

 tlieus is found in the vicinity of St. Helena ; and the G. 

 coluber in the seas surrounding New Holland. The specimen 

 seen by M. Cuvier was eleven inches long, but the species 

 grows much larger. 



It is after the gempylus and thyrsites that M. Cuvier, in 

 his great work, places the genera Lepidopus and Trichi- 

 urus, of the tribe tsenioides of the Regne Animal, and we 

 think it right to follow his example here as the analogy is 

 most striking. 



It is a most extraordinary circumstance, that a fish so gene- 

 rally met with, so handsome, so large, and so remarkable in all 

 respects, as the great lepidopus of our European Seas, should 

 have remained unknown to naturalists even to the end of the 

 eighteenth century, and that for a long time after it should 

 have been described successively by several writers, each of 

 whom has believed it to be new, and was totally unacquainted 

 with the labours of his predecessors. 



If we figure to ourselves a large and broad riband of silver, 

 swimming in undulations, and sending forth in its motions 

 beautiful reflections of light, we shall have an idea of the 

 effect produced by the lepidopus argyreus when it is living 

 in the waters of the sea. 



This fish constitutes an article of food, and its flesh is even 

 fine and delicate. According to M. Risso, it is in April and 

 May that it approaches the coasts. It is then taken by the 

 drag-net. Its ordinary sojourn is at a moderate depth, where 

 it lives isolatedly. Its female is full of eggs in spring. 



According to the fishermen who caught an individual on 

 the coast of Devonshire, which has been described by Mon- 

 tagu, it swam with astonishing velocity, and kept its head 

 out of the water. It was killed by a blow of an oar ; but it 

 was such a rarity even in Devonshire, that it was publicly ex- 

 hibited till decomposition took place. 



