176 DEEP-SEA FISHES OP THE ATLANTIC BASIN. 



of Lisbon from January to April, where it is known as the Tmpcrador. It was afterwards 

 fouud at ^Madeira by Lowe, who, unaware of the existence of two species in those waters, 

 figured it in the Cambridge Transactions under the name of B. sple^dens, and it has since 

 been found to be almost as abundant about Madeira as Lowe's subsequently described 

 species. It is known by the Madeiran fishermen as the Alfonnin a casta lar(ja, and it 

 is more brilliantly scarlet, though it has a paler mouth. It is obtained at a depth of from 

 300 to 400 fathoms, at from 1 to 2 leagues from the shore, and attains tlie weight of 4 or 



5 pounds. The Challenger obtained specimens from the Sea of Japan at a depth of 345 

 fathoms. Dr. Diiderlein also obtained specimens in Japan in 1881. 



The type of B. borealis was taken at Biirnajs, near Bergen, March 8, 1839. Two addi- 

 tional examples, referred to this species, were secured near Bergen in 1871; these are men- 

 tioned in "ISTorges Fiske," 1874, and again by Lilljeborg in his "Skaiuliiiavisk Fauna" in 

 1881. Lilljeborg admitted it as a siiecies doubtfully distinct trom B. decadactylus. 



Collett has compared the type of B. borealis with an adult siiecimen of B. decadactylus 

 from Madeira and with Steindachner's descriptions of examples of this species from Lisbon 

 and the Canaries and those taken by Diiderlein in Japan. The type of B. borealis is only 

 280 millimeters long, and Collett is satisfied of its identity with B. decadactylus. He has 

 critically studied the chief diagnostic characters relied upon by Diiben and Koren, namely, 

 the greater height of the body and the number and size of the nasal spines. 



We present below a translation of the essential parts of his discussion: 



Lowe, in 1840, and Steindachner, in 1877, showed that the character stated by Cuv. 



6 Val. (copied by Giiuther) of the body height in B. decadaetyhis equaling the length of 

 head, is erroneous. In this species the length of the head is always less than height of 

 body, and is contained in it from 1^ to li times. In the Museum example from Madeira 

 the proportion between the head length and body height is as 1 to 1.33; in the type of B. bore- 

 alis, which is only one-half as long as the Madeira specimen, and thus should have a rela- 

 tively greater height of body, the proportion is as 1 to 1.43. ]S^o specific difference can be 

 based on this character. 



The number and size of the spines of the snout he found to vary with the size and age 

 of the fish, and he concludes that this character is unimiiortant. In Japanese examples of 

 B. decadactylus, measuring 370 millimeters, the preorbital spine is one-third as long as the 

 eye, almost exactly as in the typical specimen of B. borealis. Tlie relative length of this 

 spine decreases with age. 



In the radial formula and number of scales, B. borealis and B. decadactylus agree. 

 There is no difference in their proportions, dentition, and other specific characters. 



BERYX SPLENDENS, Lowk. (Figure 197.) 



Beryx spUndens, Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lonilou, 1833, 143; Cambridge Pliil. Traus., vi, 197 (the figure rep- 

 resents Ji. decadaciijliia); Fishes of Madeira, 47, pi. viii. — -Gunther, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1878, 

 I, 485; Challenger Keport xxii, 33. — Hilgendokf, Sitzangsber. Gesellsch. Naturf. Freunde, Berlin, 

 1879, 78. — Stendachner, loc. cit., 221. 



Body compressed, elongate, its height equal to the length of the head, and contained 

 3i times in the total. The pectoral and dorsal fins, which are equal in length, are one-fifth 

 of the entire length of the fish; the ventral, one-sixth. The dorsal and anal fins are higher 

 than in B. decadactylus, and the insertion of the anal is under the end of the dorsal. 

 Caudal deeply forked. Scales large, the whole surface spinous, with short reflexed points or 

 prickles, giving a general roughness to the touch. Lateral line nearly straight, following 

 the curvature of the back, inconspicu ous, ami with 71 to 76 scales, with 8 above and 20 be- 

 below the lateral line in transverse series. Its color is thus described by Lowe : "At the 

 moment of capture, whilst this fi.sh is yet alive, the whole body beneath the lateral line is of 

 a pure, resplendent, silvery white; the fins alone, and merely the ridge of the back and head, 

 the inside of the mouth, the lower jaw, and parts beneath the eye, being of the brightest 

 scarlet, contrasting strongly with the f)ure silver of tlie whole sides and belly, wliich only 

 after death turn iridescent-rosy, or sometimes rich golden scarlet. The hind parts of the 

 dorsal and the ventral fins are transparent ; the iris is pale scarlet. There is a watery trans- 

 parency about the scarlet of the back in this state perfectly inimitable by art. 



