REPORT ON THE PELAGIC FISHES. 35 



of the lower, measured from the eye, is 4| mm., whilst the upper measures 2 mm. only. 

 The basal half of the lower jaw is armed on the sides with strong curved teeth rather 

 distantly placed, the teeth of the upper jaw being smaller, more closely set, nearly 

 uniform in size, and occupying the entire length of the intermaxillaries. 



Exocoetus, L. 



Of this pelagic genus comparatively few specimens were obtained, the majority being 

 young. The fins do not seem to undergo important changes with growth, with the 

 exception of the caudal fin, which I have found in some specimens, not in all, unusually 

 long. The coloration is not a reliable guide in the determination of young examples, for 

 whilst the colours which ornament the mature fish, especially the fins, in some of the 

 .species, are not developed in the young, bands and spots of brown or Ijlack colour adorn 

 the young of other species, but disappear with age. 



The specimens collected by the Challenger are referred to the following species : — 



Exocoetus obtusirostris, Gthr. 



Beside a specimen, 8 inches long, which entered the tow-net at night in the North 

 Atlantic on April 28, 1876, and which undoubtedly belongs to this species, five other 

 examples, from 1 to 2^ inches long, were obtained on various occasions in the Tropical 

 Atlantic (August 14, 1873 ; April 28, 1876). These young specimens might be referred 

 with" equal right to Exocoetus evolans, L. 



Exocoetus spilurus, Gthr. 



This species is known from young -specimens only. Two, 1 to 1^ inches long, were 

 obtained by the Challenger in Gulf-weed, south of Bermuda. 



Exocoetus solandri, C. V. (PI. IV. Fig. A). 



Exocoetus solandri, Cuv. Vol., xix. p. 129. 



In my general account of the Flying Fishes,' I have already shown that the fish from 

 Otaheiti, described by Solander and figured by Parkinson, is a different species from the 

 Flying Fish from the Seychelles, with which Valenciennes had identified it, dedicating it 

 to the memory of Solander. Some time ago I found among a numljer of East African 

 specimens a Flying Fish which closely agrees with Valenciennes' description, showing at 

 the same time that the specimen which I had formerly referred to Exocoetus solandri, 



' Cafal. Fish., vol. vi. pp. 280, 285. 



