DISCUSSION OP SPECIES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 1*1 



Regalecus remipes, BrI nnii u. loc. cit., 1788, ill. pi. B, figs. 1-5. 



Gymnetrus remipes, Si rneider, Zoe. eif., 182, pi. 88. 



Gymnetras Grillii, Lindroph, K. Vet. Ak. Hand., iths, 291, pi. viii. — Si bni roi r, ,•/■■ ett., 182. 



Regalecus diillii, <;i ntuer, «/>. cii., 311. 



Cepola gladius, Wax i-.ai m. Artedi, in, (117. 



Gymnetrus gladius, Ci \ (BR and Vaienciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., \. 325, pi. i cxcvm, 



Regalei us gladius, GOnther, Cat. Pish. Brit. M ui, 308. -Canestrini, Fauna [talica Pesci, 195. Moreai 



loo. cit., .v.:..— Giglioi i. Eleuco, 32. 

 Gymnetrus Hawkenii, Bloch, [chth., \n. IT'.il'. 88, 125.— Lacepede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., m. 380.— Shaw, Zool.i 



iv, 197. 

 Gymnetrus Sawkinsii, Schneider, Bloch Syst. [chth., 1801, l!'7. 

 Gymnt Irns Aseanii, Shaw, Zool., IV, 1!'7. 

 Gymnetrus longeradiatus, Risso, Hist. Nat., in, 1826, 296. 

 Gymnetrus telum, Ci vier and Valenciennes, op. eit., s, 361, pi. ccxcix. 

 Regalecus telum, Moreau, Hist. Nat. Poiss. Fiance, 557. — Giglioli, loo. rii. 

 Regalecus Banksii, Cuvier and Valenciennes, "/>. eit., x, 365. — Day, Fishes Great Britain and Ireland, i, 



220, pi. lxiv. 

 Gymnetrus Banksii, Tristram, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1866, 117. 

 Gymnetrus capensis, Cuvier and Valenciennes, op. eit., x, 376. — Gi nthj r, /■>..<■;/. — Layard, Proc. Zool. 



Soc, 1868, 319 (figure). 



Body very elongate, its height from one-twelfth to one twenty-fourth of its length. 

 Length of the head contained from 1<> to 20 times in the length of the body. Snout 

 short, truncated; cleft of mouth vertical, the upper jaw very protractile. .laws minute 

 or absent. Diameter of eye 4 to <> times in length of head. The anterior rays, 8 to 15 

 in number, form an elevated crest, sometimes in two parts, the posterior rays of this crest 

 with membranous tips. Each ventral ray with a lobate membranous tip. Skin with 

 numerous bony tubercles. Lateral line placed low. 



Radial formula: 1). 275-400; P. 11-14; V. i. 



Color, silver gray, with a few spots or streaks of darker hue, most numerous anteriorly. 



It is not certain that there is more than one species of h't't/aleriis, although, as the syn- 

 onymy which precedes clearly shows, various names Lave been suggested in connection 

 with the comparatively \\-w individuals which, during- the past century and a half, have 

 been captured in the North Atlantic. There appears to be considerable possibility of indi- 

 vidual variation in proportions of height to length, and in the number of rays in the dorsal 

 fin, but it is a tart well known to ichthyologists thai constancy is not to be expected in 

 forms in which the number of vertebrae and fin rays has been extended far beyond the nor- 

 mal a\ erage. 



It should also be said that most of the individuals studied have been in very imperfect 

 condition, and also that in many instances the observations have been made by untrained 

 observers, so that it seems doubtful whether there is really more than one species to be 

 assigned to the Atlantic fauna. At all events, Giinther, Collett, Liitken, and Day agree in 

 the idea, that it is impossible to discriminate between the forms already described, and we 

 follow their lead in considering them all, for the present, as a single species. It is not 

 impossible, of course, that, should better material be obtained, if may be desirable to sepa- 

 rate the group into more subspecies, but until this shall be done discrimination hails to 

 confusion rather than to definite knowledge. 



The fishes belonging to the genus Regalecus are very remarkable, not only on account 

 of their peculiar appearance and structure, but because of their enormous size. They 

 have been known to attain the length of 20 feet, and it is more than probable that they 

 grow very much longer, and that many of the creatures popularly identified with the "sea, 

 serpent" are only large individuals of this type. Indeed, it seems quite safe to assign to 

 this group all the so-called "sea, serpents" which have been described as swimming rapidly 

 near the surface, with a horse-like head raised above the water, surmounted by a mane-like 

 crest of red or brown. 



The individual which came ashore at Hungry Bay in Bermuda in 1860, and which was 

 about 17 feet long, was described by the people who saw it before its capture as being 

 very much larger, and as having a head of an immense horse with a fiaming red mane, (liiu- 

 198G8— No. 2 31 



