DISCUSSION OF SPECIES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 243 



POLYMIXIA, Lowe. 



Polymixia, l.mvi . Trans. Cambridge Phil. Soc, L838, vi. 198.— GUntheb, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus.,i, 16. 

 NcmoTyrama, V.u.i m ii \m,s, in Webb and Berthelot, [chth. Des Canai. Poiss., 10. 

 IHnemus, Poky, Mem. Hist. Nat., Cuba, n. 161, I860. 



Snout short, with the cleft of the mouth nearly horizontal. Bye large. Two barbels 

 at tin' throat. Opercles without armature. Scales of moderate size. One dorsal. Anal 

 with 3 or 4 spines. Caudal forked. Ventrals with 6 or 7 shorl rays. (Giinther.) 



The fishes of this genus have according to Giinther, about the same bathymetricui 

 and horizontal distribution as Beryx. 



POLYMIXIA NOBILIS, LoWE. (Figure 241.) 



Polymixia nobilis, Lowe, Cambr. Phil. Trans.. ls:!S, vi, 198. (Specimens from Madeira). — GOnther, Cat. 



Fish. Brit. Mas., i. IT; Challenger Report, xxn, 1887, 31. pi. i, tig. 31. — AiCOCK, Ann. and Mag. Nat. 



Hist., 1889 (Nov.), 381. 

 Nemoorama ffebbii, Valenciennes, in Webb A Berthelot, Iehthyoi. Il<s Canaries, 11, pi. vin (specimens 



from the Canaries). 

 Polymixia Lowei, GOnther, op. eit.,i, 17.— Poky. Repert. Fis. Nat. Cuba, 11. 159. 

 Dinemus venustus, Poey, Mem. Hist, Xat. Cuba, 11, 1860, 161, 352, pi. xiv, fig. 1 ; Harbudo in Cuba). — Zoolog- 



ical Record, 1868, 147. 

 Polymixia japoiiira, (ii'NTHER, Ann, and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1877, xx, 436 (specimens from luosima, Japan). — 



Steindachner, Denkschr. Akad. Wiss. Wien, 1883, xlvii, 261, tab. iv, tig. 2. 



A Polymixia, with compressed, elevated body, whose height is contained 3g times in 

 its total length, and is nearly equal to the length of head. Head with blunt snout and 

 slightly projecting upper jaw. Mouth wide, the maxillary ending beyond vertical from 

 posterior margin of orbit, and terminating posteriorly in a broad plate. Teeth in broad, 

 velvet-like bands, present on jaws, palatines, pterygoids, vomerines, tongue, and branchial 

 arches. Eye placed high, but below upper profile of head; its diameter contained about 

 3 times in the head's length. Opercles spineless. Scales oblique, irregular, completely 

 covering body and head; 48-54 in lateral line. 



Eadial formula: D. v. 28-38; A. 111-IV, 16-18; V. 1, 6-7. 



Color a soft violet, brownish, opalescent on the back and fins. Upper margin of orbit, 

 and two bands above the snout, golden green; maxillary roseate, inner margin of caudal 

 lobes whitish. Iris white, opalescent. 



This species has been exhaustively studied by Dr. Giinther, who has access to speci- 

 mens from various parts of the tropical and subtropical Atlantic, namely, near Madeira, 

 the < 'anary Islands. St. Helena, and Cuba. The Challenger expedition brought home speci- 

 mens from the Sea of Japan, where they were captured oil' Inosima at a depth of 345 fath- 

 oms. The Investigator took it in the Andaman seas, in 271 fathoms. The species has been 



found by Poey at Cuba. The British .Museum in 1886 received a specimen IV Mauritius, 



the first of its kind which the fishermen remembered to have seen. The wide geographical 

 range of this form is remarkable, although it is possible that it does not descend to veJ y 

 great depths or extend beyond the tropical or subtropical zones. From comparison of all 

 the materials in his possession, Dr. Giinther has become convinced that the differences 

 on which he formerly based his conclusion that there were three species, were really not 

 sufficiently marked to justify his conclusions. 



Family POMACENTRID^E. 



Pomacentridce, Bonaparte, Catalogo Metodico, Pesci Europei, 1846, 81.— GCntiier, Cat. Fish., Brit. Mus., 



iv, 1862, 2.— Cii.i., Arr. Fain. Fishes, 1872, 7. No. 64. 

 Pomaeentroidei, Bleeker, Tentamen, 1859, xvm. 



Pharyngognaths with ctenoid scales, pseudobranehiae and .uills '.',.\. Teeth feeble; pal- 

 ate edentulous. Lateral line incomplete or interrupted. Dorsal in two nearly equal 

 portions, the first spinous. Anal similar to soft portion of dorsal. Ventrals thoracic, 1. 5. 

 Branch iostegals, v-vn. Pseudobranchiae present. Air bladder present. 



The Pomacentrids live in warm waters, especially among coral reefs and usually neai 



