VI INTRODUCTION. 



which have since passed through our laboratory have brought lialf as much interest and 

 enthusiasiu. Macrurus Bairdii and Lycodcs Verrillii were simply new species of well- 

 known deep-dwelling genera, and have since been found to be very abundant on the con- 

 tinental slope, but they were among the first fruits of that great harvest iu the field of 

 oceanic ichthyology which we have had the pleasure of helping to garner in the fifteen 

 years which have passed since that ha])py and eventful morning. It seems incredible that 

 American naturalists should not then have known that a few miles away there was a fauna 

 as unlike that of our coast as could be found in the Indian Ocean or the seas of China. 



It should be remembered that although the Challeniicr has been back more than a year 

 from her long cruise, her treasures were as yet undescribed, and that no one knew what a 

 marvelous wealth of material she had gathered except the naturalists on board. Even 

 they can scarcely have exi)ected that year after year the great (juarto volumes of these final 

 reports would continue to l)e printed, until to-day there are forty of them — the magnificent 

 outcome of the most liberally equipped exploring expedition ever sent out by any nation. 

 Oceanic ichthyology was as yet unborn. 



A year later Dr. (liinther began to publish the preliminary descriptions of the Clial- 

 lenger fishes in the London Annals and Magazine of Natural History, and a new interest was 

 added to the study of ichthyology. From that time until now we have never been without 

 a wealth of attractive oceanic material for study, and the genera and species announced 

 by us from the western Atlantic have been more in number than those brought back by the 

 Challenger, yet the discoveries made in those earliest years have always seemed the most 

 interesting. 



It may be asked how it happened that no deep-sea fishes had been taken by the Coast 

 Survey vessels which began dredging in 1SG7, or by those of the Fish Commission which 

 began in 1871. The answer is a simple one. The Fish Oommission vessels were small, 

 and did not venture outside of the hundred fathom line until 1877, and the Coast Survey 

 in those day^ collected with the dredge only. When Mr. Agassi/, took charge of the bio- 

 logical work of the Coast Survey, in 1877, he introduced the trawl net, and began to collect 

 fishes, but these did not come into our hands until 1883. The nets were not really per- 

 fected until 1883, wlien the Albatross and the TrdvaiUenr began their cruises. 



In 1878 the headquarters of the Fish Commission was at (Houcester, and we began to 

 receive from the Cape Ann fishermen deep-sea forms taken by them on the offshore banks. 

 In this way came our Ilaloporphijrus viola and Lycodes pa.vilh(s, brought by Capt. J. W. 

 Collins, then of the halibut schooner Marion and since well-known by his writings upon 

 the fisheries; onv AryenHiia s;/rtensiiim, (1. & B. (since identified with A. silus of Europe); 

 Lijeodes Vahlil, a Greenland form, brought by Capt. Hawkins, of the schooner Gwendolen; 

 Anarrhiehas latij'nms, Alepidosaurus ferox, Alepocephalus Bairdii, G. & B.; Synaphobranchiis 

 pinnatus, Simenvheh/.s parasificns, Gill; Chinuvra plumhea, Gill { — affinis, Hoc. &Cap.); Cen- 

 troscyllium Fahricii and Gentrosvymnus crelolepis, Eehiostoma harbatum, Chauliodus iSloanei, 

 Reinhardtiiis hippiij/lossoides, Macrurus rupestris, Lopholatllus rhamwlconticeps, G. & B. — all 

 received iu time to be catalogued in our Fishes of Essex County, Massachusetts, published 

 lu 1879, together with Phycis Ghenteri, G. & B., and Eumicrotremus spinostis, obtained in the 

 same year by the Fish Commission vessels. 



In 1880 the Fish Commission began its explorations of the Gulf Stream off the south 

 coast of New England. Dr. Bean was on the Pacific coast and the following were described 

 by Dr. Goode: Monolcne ses.iilirauda, Citharichthys nrctifrons, G. unicornis, Thyris pellucidus, 

 Hypsicometvs gohioidcs, Prristedium. uriniafum, ]\[acruru.s varminatus, llalieuUcu scnticosa, 

 TAmanda Beanii, Amitra liparina, Gottunculus torvus, Hetarches parmatxis, Ghlorophthalmus 

 chalybcius, Xotacfnithusphasyanorns, Monolene, Hypsicometes, and Amitra being new genera, 

 and Mnncalias urauoscopus, Ghauna.r pictus, and Gottunculus Tliomsoni were added to the 

 fauna. 



Apogon payidionis and Benthodcsmus elnngatus were found in the same year. 



In 1881 we undertook, at the request of Prof. Baird and Mr. Agassiz, to produce a 

 work upon the fishes of the Coast Survey and the Fish Comnussion together, and discon- 



