521 



GYMNETRUS, (Cuvier.) KEGALECTTS, {Gray.) 



The body long and very thin; head compressed, and sloped from the 

 top to the mouth. A long dorsal fin, the first rays of which are much 

 elevated. Distinct ventral fins, each formed of a long filament; no 

 anal fin; the tail with scarcely the mark of a fin. 



BANKS'S OAKFISH. 



Hawkins' Gymnetrus, (referred to) 



Regaleeus Banksii, 



Fleming; Br. Animals, p. 204. 

 Richardson; Supp. to Yarrell's 



Br. Fishes, p. 27. 

 Guxthee; Catalogue Br. Museum, 



vol. hi, p. 309. 

 Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist.. 2nd. 



Series, July, 1849. 



The characteristic habits of Banks's Oarfish in its native 

 haunts, and even the haunts themselves are so little known, 

 that we find the amount of its history recognised by naturalists 

 to be limited to a mention of the places where it has been 

 found, and the circumstances attending its capture; and even 

 as regards the last-named particulars there appears in some of 

 the instances no small degree of uncertainty in the accounts 

 that have been given concerning them. 



The first example on record in England is said to have 

 been obtained at Whitby, in January of the year 1759, and 

 of which we learn the particulars from a paper by Albany 

 Hancock, Esq., and Dr. Embleton, in the "Annals and Magazine 

 of Natural History" for the year 1849, where they quote the 

 "Annual Register" of the former date; but the species could 

 not have been recognised from the description there given, 



