13 



ON A SPECIMEN OF 



LOPHOTES CEPEDIANUS 



FROM THE 



CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 



BY 



G. A. BOULENGER, F.R.S. 



I have received from Dr. Gilchrist a specimen of Lophotes 

 cepedinmis, Giorna, cast up on the shore at Mossel Bay in 

 August, 1899. So few examples of this remarkable fish 

 have yet fallen into the hands of naturalists that the capture 

 of one at the Cape is well worthy of record, the more so as 

 it widely extends the ascertained range of the species to 

 which it belongs. Lophotes cepedianus was only known 

 from the Mediterranean, and the Sea off Madeira if we 

 regard L. cristatiis^ Johnson, as a synonym. There is, 

 however, in the British Museum, a specimen bearing no 

 indication of locality, presented by Sir Andrew Smith in 

 1852, which may very well have been procured in South 

 Africa. A second species of Lophotes has been described 

 by Giinther a few years ago (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1890, p. 244, 

 pis XIX. and XX.) from a specimen washed up on the shore 

 of Kalk Bay. This fish, for which the name L. fiskii was 

 fwoposed by Giinther, differs very widely from the typical 

 form of the genus ; its extremity elongate, ribbon-like form 

 and the probable absence of an anal fin, to say nothing of 

 the frontal crest and the absence of ventral fins, indicate, 

 in my opinion, a distinct genus. 



The specimen from Mossel Bay, which is figured on the 

 accompanying plate, measures i metre 18. The depth 

 of the body is contained 6i times in the total length, 

 the length of the head 8 times ; the depth of the head 

 equals its length ; the diameter of the eye is contained 

 33 times in the length of the head ; the maxillary extends a 

 little beyond the vertical of the anterior border of the eye; 

 the dorsal fin contains 245 rays, the anal 19. 



[Published, 19th April, 1900.] 



