Hamilton. — Occurrence of Genus Trachipterus in New Zealand. 371 



T. spinolae Cuv. & Val., and T. iris Walb.- — were merely successive stage- 

 growths of a very variable species, and must all be considered juvenile 

 stages of the adult T. taenia, a species now more correctly known as 

 T. trachypterus. 



No similar work has yet been done on the Australasian and Pacific 

 forms, but no doubt when sufficient material has accumulated and local 

 libraries offer better facilities for reference our species of this genus will 

 be thoroughly revised. 



In a paper on the Southern Pacific forms of the Trachipterids, Ogilby(l) 

 endeavoured to correlate many of the described New Zealand and Aus- 

 tralian forms. He opposed the contention that similar species could 

 inhabit widely disconnected areas of ocean, and for this reason did not 

 compare the Australasian Trachipterids with northern forms, but qualified 

 his remarks with the observation that, as far as our present knowledge 

 extends, the conditions which regulate animal-life at great depths below 

 the surface of the ocean are everywhere more or less identical as far as 

 temperature is concerned. This being so, there should be no obstacle to 

 the cosmopolitan distribution of similar forms. He admits that certain 

 Australasian Trachipterids may be comparable to the Valparaiso species, 

 T. altivelis Kner. 



Since Ogilby wrote in 1897, American and Japanese authors have 

 described several species from the Japanese and Califomian coasts, and 

 these have a distinct similarity t3 those found in the Australasian region. 



A list of the fifteen occurrences of Trachipterus in the Australasian 

 and New Zealand regions, as far as can be compiled from all sources, and 

 arranged in chronological order, follows : — 



1873. T. altivelis Kner ? Recorded by Hutton(6). Dried specimen in 



the Auckland Museum. (Since lost.) 

 1876. T. altivelis Kner. Identified by Hutton. Specimen in the Otago 



University Museum, Dunedin. 

 1881. T. araivatae Clarke(8). Type specimen in the Dominion Museum, 



Wellington. 



1881. T. jacksonensis Ramsay(3). Type specimen in the Australian 



Museum, Sydney. 



1882. T. altivelis Kner. Recorded by Johnston(7). Specimen in the 



Hobart Museum. 

 1886. T. taenia Bloch & Schn. Recorded by McCoy(5). Three specimens 



in the National Museum, Melbourne. 

 1897. T. jacksonensis polystictus Ogilby(2). Type specimen in the Techno- 

 logical Museum, Sydney. 

 1903. T. taenia Bloch & Schn. Specimen in the Otago University Museum, 



Dunedin, from Purakanui. 

 1905. T. taenia Bloch & Schn. Specimen in the Canterbury Museum, 



Christchurch. 

 1908. T. jacksonensis Ramsay. Caught at Nelson in November, 1908. 



Only a drawing preserved. 

 1911. T. taenia Bloch & Schn. Specimen in the Otago University Museum, 



Dunedin, obtained from Port Chalmers. 



1914. T. jacksonensis Ramsay. Specimen from Waikanae, now in the 



Dominion Museum. 



1915. T. taenia Bloch & Schn. Specimen from Chatham Islands, now in 



the Dominion Museum. 



