VI INTRODUCTION. 



which have since passed thronfrli our laboratory have brought lialf as imich interest and 

 eiitliiisiasin. Mucnirux Jiairdii and Lycodes Vcrrillii were simply new species of well- 

 known deep-dwelling genera, and have since been found lo be very abundant on the con- 

 tinental slope, but they were among the fust fruits of that great harvest in the Held of 

 oceanic ichthyology which we have had the pleasure of helping to garner in the tifteen 

 years which liave passed since that happy and eventful morning. It seems incredible that 

 American naturalists should not then have known that a few miles away there was a fauna 

 as unlike that of our coast as could be found in the Indian Ocean or the seas of China. 



It should be remembered that although the Challemjer has been back more than a year 

 from her long cruise, her treasures were as yet undescribed, and that no 6ne knew what a 

 marvelous wealth of material she had gathered except the naturalists on board. Even 

 they can scarcely have expected that year after year the great (puirto volumes of these final 

 rejiorts would continue to be printed, until to-day there are forty of them— the magnificent 

 outcome of the most liberally eiiuipped exploring expedition ever sent out by any nation. 

 Oceanic ichthyology was as yet unborn. 



A year later Dr. (liinther began to publish the preliminary descriptions of the Chal- 

 lenfier fishes in the London Annals and Magazine of Natural History, and a new interest was 

 added to the study of ichthyology. From that time until now we have never been without 

 a wealth of attractive oceanic material for study, and the genera and species announced 

 by us from the western Atlantic have been more in number than those brought back by the 

 ChdUvnger, yet the discoveries made in those earliest years have always seemed the most 

 interesting. 



It may be asked bow it happened that no deep-sea fishes had been taken by the Coast 

 Survey vessels which began dredging in 1807, or by those of the Fish Commission which 

 began in 1871. The answer is a siuiple one. The Fish Commission vessels were small, 

 and did not venture outside of the hundred fathom line until 1877, and the Coast Survey 

 in those day> collected with the dredge only. Wheu Mr. Agassiz took charge of the bio- 

 logical work of the Coast Survey, in 1877, he introduced the trawl net, and began to collect 

 fishes, but these did not conui into our hands until 1883. The nets were not really per- 

 fected until 1883, when the Albatross and the Travaillcur began their cruises. 



In 1878 the headijuarters of the Fish Commission was at (xloucester, and we began to 

 receive from the Cape Ann fishermen deep-sea forms taken by tliem on the off-shore banks. 

 In this way came our Jlalojxirphip-us viola and Lycodes paxillus, brought by Capt. J. W. 

 Collins, then of the halibut schooner Marion and since well-known by his writings upon 

 the fisheries; onr Arf/eni I iia syrlensium, (r. & B. (since identified with A, silits of Europe); 

 Lyrndrs Vdhlii, a (ireenland forui, brought by Capt. Hawkins, of the schooner Gicendolen; 

 Anarrhiehas latifrons, Alepidosaurus ferox, Alepoeephalm Bairdii, G. & B.; Synaphobranchus 

 piniiiilHs, Simenrhchfs pamsilicus, Gill; Chinmra plumhea, Gill {=ttffinis,'Roc. &Cap.); Cen- 

 trosryllliiiii Fahricii and Ccnirosrymnm cwlolepis, EchiosUima barbahim, (Jhauliodus Sloanei, 

 Beinhardtius hippof/lossoides, Macrunis rupestris, LopholaUlus chamwleonticeps, G. & B.— all 

 recei\ed in time tf) be catalogued in our Fishes of Essex County, Massachusetts, published 

 in 187!), together with Phycis Cliesteri, G. & 1'.., and Eiimicrotrcmus sjnnosus, ohUined in the 

 same year by the Fish Commission vessels. 



In 1880 the Fish Commission began its explorations of the Gulf Stream off the south 

 coast of New England. Dr. IJean was on the Pacific coast and the following were described 

 by Dr. Goode: Monolcnc scssilicauda, Cilhurichtliys arcti/rons, C. unicornis, Thyris peUucidus, 

 Mypsicomcfrs gohioidcs, Pcristedium miniatum, Macrurus carminatns, JTalieiitaa saificosa, 

 lAmanda lieanii, Amitra Hparina, Cottunculus torvus, Setarehcs i)armatus, Chlorophthahnus 

 fhalyhriiis, Xotarnntlnisphasfianonis, Monolenc, ITypsicometes, ami Amitra being new genera, 

 and Maiicnlias iinniosropiis. Phitiinax pictiis. and Cottunculus T/(OJHSoni were added to the 

 fauna. 



Apitijon pundiditis and licnlltodtsmus clniifialns were found in the same year. 



In 18S1 wc undertook, at the rc(iue.st of Prof. Baird and Mr. Agassiz, to produce a 

 work upou the lishcs of the Coast Survey and the Fish Commission together, and discon- 



