I04 DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN chap. 



These results served to confirm the opinion we had formed 

 at the previous station (63) that the Hght- coloured species 

 lives nearer the surface, while the dark-coloured species inhabits 

 greater depths. Red prawns, sagittse, and other creatures were 

 found in large numbers in deep water, and we continued to 

 meet with such forms as G astro sto77ius and Opisthoproctus, and 

 a new Oneirodes (Fig. 90). 



We also discovered a curious little young fish, 4 cm. long, 



which we can only suppose to be a transition stage from a 



Larval leptocephalus to a Gastrostoimis (probably G. bairdii, which we 



so often met with). Its head shows clear indications of the 



Fig. 90. 

 Oneirodes, n.sp. Nat. size, 1.4 cm. 



remarkable gullet, the tiny eyes far forward near the snout, and 

 the small ventral fin. Posteriorly the body much resembles a 

 leptocephalus, but here, too, there seems to be a commencement 

 of the strange organ which is situated at the end of the long 

 tail of Gastrostonuis. What is chiefly interesting about this 

 find is that it affords fresh proof of the relationship between the 

 saccopharyngidae and eels. When search is made, as it prob- 

 ably will be soon, for still younger stages of the common eel 

 larvae than the ones we found, it will probably be of zoological 

 interest to seek in these teeming waters for transition stages 

 between this strange form and the earlier leptocephalid stages. 



Another deep-sea fish at this station that deserves mention 

 was a form, as yet apparently undescribed, which resembles the 

 undoubtedly blind fish {Cetomimus) found at Station 35 ; the 

 eyes appear very much reduced, just as in the case of its 

 relative. Both of them were taken in deep water, at 1000 

 metres. 



