Forbes. — On Regalecus. 195 



given by Professor Parker in the crest of the Otago Harbour 

 specimen, as the probable number here, these were succeeded 

 by 221 rays anterior to the gap — in which 17 were made 

 out, but there may have been one more — and succeeded 

 by 170 more to the termination of the tail, giving in all 422, 

 which comes very close both to the number recorded by 

 Lindroth in B. grillii, and by Professor McCoy in the Vic- 

 torian specimen, which is 423. The accompanying table 

 (Appendix A), taken from Professor Parker's paper, with the 

 addition of the Okain's Bay and Victorian specimens, will 

 enable the eye to compare these measurements at a glance. 

 The number of the pectoral, ventral, and branchiostegal rays 

 corresponds with those in B. argcntcus. 



Tail. — In the present specimen the tail is almost perfect, 

 a mere fraction only being possibly absent. It terminates in 

 a point, and is curved upwards for its terminal few inches. 

 The dorsal fin extended, I am convinced, to, but it did not 

 pass, the extreme point. Its fin-rays have been broken off 

 for the last few inches, but with a magnifying-glass it was 

 possible to detect their broken extremities. There is there- 

 fore no caudal fin. There is no sign of any old fracture 

 haviug at any time taken place, as the body graduates 

 gently from head to tail. It would seem, therefore, that 

 the supposition that the end of the tail " has been lost 

 as a useless appendage at a much earlier period of the 

 life of the fish," wdiich has arisen from the circumstance 

 that these fishes are so often found in a truncated condition, 

 is probably groundless, and their mutilation is merely the 

 result of accident. Moreover, as the stomach has an extra- 

 ordinary csecal prolongation, which extends for many feet 

 behind the anus, it is evident that a loss of any considerable 

 length of its tail would probably be fatal to the fish. 



Colour and Markings. — In general appearance the fish 

 presented on its arrival in Christchurch numerous bright 

 silvery patches, and indications that this colour had covered 

 the whole general surface of the fish. These patches were 

 eventually lost, and the fish assumed a light-greyish colour. 

 Its crest, its dorsal, pectoral, and ventral fins, had faded to a 

 dark salmon-red colour. In some lights it could be detected 

 that dark spots and stripes had been dispersed over the 

 anterior part of the body, but they had almost faded out at 

 the date of examination. As to their number, form, and 

 situation, I can therefore speak with no certainty. On the 

 sides of the body there are five well-defined black bars (or 

 ridges) running longitudinally. These bands, on examination, 

 prove to be composed of raised tubercles, and they are dis- 

 tinctly separated by interspaces, which in the fresh fish would 

 be bright silvery stripes, quite free of tubercles, as a sensitive 



