INDUSTKIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1876. clxvii 



type being the second of its class made known {tTriyovog, later born, 

 or born of a second marriage, and ix^vg, fish). 



Notable contributions to ichthyology have been made relative to 

 the groups as well as to the faunas of several countries. 



A new form of fishes was discovered by Hcrr Buchholz in a small 

 stream in Victoria, emptying into the Victoria Eiver, in West Africa. 

 The species is of small size, and in external appearance lias consid- 

 erable resemblance to a Cyprinodont, and especially to species of the 

 genus HaplocMlus : it is really, however, closely related to the Osteo- 

 glossids of South America and Australia, and has no real affinity with 

 the Cyprinodont ids : it is covered with cycloid scales, furnished with 

 the radiating fracture-like markings characteristic of the Osteoglos- 

 soid series ; its head is flattened above ; its cheek protected by the 

 enlarged suborbital bones; no interoperculum or suboperculum are 

 developed ; the mouth is very fully provided with teeth ; the dorsal 

 fin is situated far behind, and is very short and high ; the anal fin is 

 also short, but more developed than the dorsal, and more anterior; 

 the ventral fins are rather far advanced forward, although, of course, 

 still abdominal. The relations of the type are evidently with the 

 family with which it has been compared i. e., the osteoglossids ; and 

 the importance of its discovery is due chiefly to this afiiuity. It has 

 been claimed by several observers that there is in many respects a 

 close relationship between the African and South American faunas, 

 and that this relationship is evidence of the former closer connection 

 of the two continents ; these as well as the Australian continent fur- 

 nish not a few proofs that they have derived their animal inhabitants 

 from a common but very remote primitive source. The newly dis- 

 covered fish furnishes another decided argument in favor of the 

 truth of this view. It has been named Pantodon (in allusion to the 

 numerous teeth) BucJihohi. 



A characteristic type of fishes of the Northern Atlantic is exem- 

 plified in the species variously called " Sea-Wolf," "Wolf-fish," and 

 " Cat-fish." This species (the Anarrhicas liqms of naturalists) is 

 common to both sides of the Atlantic, and is well known in con- 

 nection with its powerful jaws, and its consequent ability to wound 

 and otherwise injure fishermen. The other species of the genus 

 have been involved in considerable obscurity. In the past year, 

 however, Professor Steenstrup has published, in Danish, a mono- 

 graph of the genus, in which he has demonstrated that in the ex- 

 treme northern seas, anrl especially the Greenland waters, no less 

 than four species are found, which represent two quite distinct 

 minor types or subgenera, one {Anarrhicas proper) containing two 

 species {A. lujms and A. minor)^ and the other {Lycichthys) contain- 

 ing also two, but less known species {A. latifrons and A. denticu- 

 latus). 



Among the contributions to knowledge of the Ichthyic fiumas of 



