DISCUSSION OF SPECIES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 117 



Gill has also described a species from the Pacific coast of North America, under the 

 name o{ Cnulopiis horealis (Proc. Acad. Nat. Si-i., Pliihul., 18(52, x>. 128); and Beau another, 

 Alepisaurus ccscidaplus (Proc. U. 8. Nat. Mus., 1883, 3(;i); and there is also the doubtful 

 Caulopus serra of Gill from Monterey, California. 



We are not thoroughly satisfied that more than one species has been found in the 

 Atlantic. 



KEY TO THE GENERA AND SPECIES. 



Ventral rays 7-10 Alepisaurus 



Paixed fius moderate. (Ventrals about oui'-half length of head.) Veniral rays 9-10. 



Alepisauru.s ferox 

 Paired tins short. (Ventrals about one-third length of head. ) Body shorter posteriorly. Ventral ray.s 7. 



Alepis.vurus .ESCULAPirs, Bean (from abyss otf Unalaska). 



Ventral rays 13 Caulopus 



Paired fins moderate. (Ventrals about one-half length of head.) Dorsal much elevated. 



Caulopus altivelis 



Paired fins elongate. ("Ventrals as long as head".) Dorsal tin short ; 31 rays. 



Caulopus boreaus 



ALEPISAURUS FEROX, Lowe. (Figure 112.) 



Alepisaurus ferox, Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soe, Loudon, 1833, 107. — Trans. Zoiil. Soc. London, i, 124, pi. xix; 395, 



pi. Lix. — GOnther, Wiegmann's Archir., 1880, 121. 

 Alepiihmiurus ferox, GuNTUER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., v, 421. 

 riayi/odus ferox, GiJNTHER, Challenger Report, xxii, 203. — Jordan, loc. cit. 

 Alepisaurus azureus, Cuvier and Vaxenciexnes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xxii, 1839, 530. 



Length of the head is less than twice the height of the body, and rather less than one- 

 sixth of the total. Eye median, contained 5 to G times in length of head, as wide as the inter- 

 oibital space. Dorsal fin much elevated; pectorals elongated, equal in length to the head, 

 but reaching nearly two-thirds of the distance to the insertions of the ventrals; first rays of 

 dorsal, pectoral, and ventral serrated. 



liadial formula: D. 38-44; A. 14-17; P. 14-15 ; V. 9-10. 



A. ferox was first described from specimens obtained by Lowe in the deep waters near 

 Madeira. In addition to Lowe's types, and a few other specimens obtained by the Madeira 

 fishermen upon the deep-sea lines, the species appears not to have been captured, except in 

 the Western Atlantic. 



From the Western Atlantic specimens have been sent to the National Museum. Of 

 three of these the locality is not known, but they were obtained in the New York markets 

 by Mr. E. G. Blackford, and forwarded to Washington by him. The Albatross obtained 

 one at the surface (Cat. No. 25262 U. S. N. M.) in 44° 30' N. Lat., 57^ 13' W. Long., and 

 another (Cat. 22292 U. S. N. M.) at a depth of 195 fathoms in 42© 45' N. Lat., 63° W. Long. 

 The Gloucester fishermen obtained two on Le Have Bank, one (No. 24245) at 275 fathoms, 

 another (Xo. 24244) at 120 fathoms; also, two others (Nos. 2429G and 24297) in 200 fathoms 

 at Lat. 42° 37' N., Lon. 62° 55' W., and another (No. 24243) in Lat. 43° 46' N., Lon. 61° 

 IS' W. in 200 fathoms. A skull of Alepisaurus, from Van Diemen's Land, preserved in the 

 British Museum, has been provisionally identified by Giinthcr with those species, but it 

 seems scarcely safe to regard A. ferox as an inhabitant of the Australian seas until more 

 material has been obtained for study. 



A closely allied species, with somewhat shorter paired fins, has been described by Dr. 

 Bean under the nameof A. wsculnpins. The fish was speared at Unalaska in Octol)er, 1880, 

 just as it was swimming upon the beach. It undoubtedly had come to the surface from the 

 deep adjacent to Captains Harbor, where it was captured. The hundred-fathom line 

 at this point approaches rather dose to the shore. This individual had in its stomach twenty- 

 one individuals of the spiny lumpttsh. It was Dr. liean's oi)iuion that it had been driven 

 ashore by the torture of a parasitic worm found in its flesh. The "Wolf Fish", as it is 

 called in this region, frequently is stranded on the beach at lliuliuk. 



