96 



DISCOVERY REPORTS 



of head; interorbital width 3 J to 5. Maxillary extending to below anterior part or 

 middle of eye. Dorsal IX-X 32-37. Anal 31-35. Body with dark cross-bars, or 

 irregularly mottled or blotched with darker. 



Hab. Patagonian-Falklands region ; Straits of Magellan. 



In addition to the above, Mr Bennett has sent 3 specimens (195-250 mm.) from 

 Stanley, Falkland Islands. There are also 6 specimens (145-330 mm.) in the British 



Fig. 47. Champsocephalus esox. 



v 2 



Museum collection from various localities in Patagonia and the Straits of Magellan, as 

 well as the type of the species, a stuffed skin (340 mm.) from Port Famine. 



Dr R. O. Cunningham has recorded that in life the sides of this fish are barred with 

 greyish black and fine iridescent purple. Mr Bennett notes that it is not common in 

 the Falklands, but is occasionally taken from January to March. Its local name is 

 "Pike", and, although rarely eaten, is said to be a good food-fish. 



GEMPYLIDAE 



Thyrsites atun (Euphrasen). 



Scomber atun, Euphrasen, 1791, K. Vet. Acad. Nya. Hatidl., xn, p. 315. 

 Thyrsites atun, Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1831, Hist. Nat. Poiss., viii, p. 196, pi. ccxix; Valen- 

 ciennes, 1850, in Cuvier, R. Anim., Disciples Ed., Poiss., pi. xlix, fig. 1; Gunther, i860, 

 Cat. Fish., II, p. 350; Vaillant, 1888, Miss. Set. Cap Horn, vi. Zool., Poiss., p. 29; Delfin, 

 1901, Cat. Peces Chile, p. 50; Lahille, 1913, Anal. Mus. Nac. B. Aires, xxiv, p. 14, pi. v, 

 fig. 1; McCulloch, 1921, Rec. Austral. Mus., xm, p. 139, pi. xxiv, fig. 2; Barnard, 1927, 

 Ann. S. Afric. Mus., xxi, p. 788, pi. xxix, fig. 4; Phillipps, 1927, N. Zealand Mar. Dept. 

 Fish. Bull., 1, p. 47. 

 Thyrsites chilensis, Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1831, Hist. Nat. Poiss., viii, p. 204; Guichenot, 



1848-9, in Gay, Hist. Chile, Zool. 11, p. 226. 

 Thyrsites altivelis, Richardson, 1839, Proc. Zool. Soc, vn (78), p. 99. 

 St. WS 96. 17. iv. 27. 48°oo'45"S, 64 58' W. Commercial otter trawl, 90 m.: 1 specimen, 

 920 mm. 



St. WS812. 10. i. 32. From 51 16' 15" S, 68° 52'W to 51 19' 45" S, 68° 40' W. Commercial 

 otter trawl, 43-84 m. : 5 specimens, 900-950 mm. 



Hab. South Africa; Tristan da Cunha; Argentina, Patagonian-Falklands region, 

 Chile ; southern Australia ; New Zealand. 



In addition to the above, Mr Bennett has sent the head of a specimen caught in East 

 Falkland Island in February, 1927. This fish was taken in the Murrell River at Island 

 Pass, a freshwater stream at some distance from the sea. 



