DISCUSSION OF SPECIES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. 117 



Gill has also describc-d a species from the Pacific coast of North America, under the 

 name of Canlopus horeoUn (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., I'hilad., 1802, j). ll'S); and lican another, 

 Alepisaurus a'scnlapius (Proc, U.S.Nat. Mus., 1883, ^IJI); and there is also the doubtftd 

 Gaulopus scrra of Gill from Monterey, California. 



We are not thoroughly satisfied that more than one species Las been found in the 

 Atlantic. 



KEY TO THE GENERA AND SPECIES. 



Ventral rays 7-10 Alepisaurus 



Paired fius moderate. (Ventrals about oue-half leuKth of head.) Veiural rays 9-10. 



Alepisaurus fero.x 

 Paired fius short. (Ventrals about one-third length of head. ) Body sliorter posterioi-ly. Ventral rays 7. 



Alepisaurus /Esculapius, Bean (from abyss off Unalaska). 



Ventral rays 13 Caulopus 



Paired fins moderate. (Ventrals about one-half length of head.) Dorsal much elevated. 



Caulopus altivelis 



Paired fins elongate. ("Ventrals as long as head".) Dorsal fin short ; Strays. 



Caulopus borealis 



ALEPISAURUS FEROS, Lowe. (Fisurell2.) 



Alepisaurus feror, Lowe, Proc. Zool. Soe. Loudon, 183.3, 107. — Tr;uis. Zoiil. Sir-. London, i, 124, pi. xix; 395, 



pi. Lix. — GUnther, Wiegmaun's Archiv., 1880, 121. 

 Alepidunaurus ferox, GiJNTriER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mils., v, 421. 

 Plagyodus ferox, Guntiier, Challenger Report, x.xii, 203. — Jordan, loc. cit. 

 Alepisaurus azureus, Cuvier and Valenciem.ves, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xxii, 1839, 530. 



Length of the head is less than twice the height of the body, and rather less than one- 

 si.xth of the total. Eye median, contained 5 to 6 times in length of head, as wid(^ as the inter- 

 orbital space. Dorsal fin much elevated; pectorals elongated, equal in length to the head, 

 but reaching nearly two-thirds of the distance to the insertions of the ventrals; first rays of 

 dorsal, pectoral, and ventral serrated. 



Radial formula : D. 38-41 ; A. 11-17 ; P. 14-lo ; V. 0-10. 



A. ferojc was first described from specimens obtained by Lowe in the deep waters near 

 Madeira. In addition to Lowe's types, and a few other specimens obtained by the Madeira 

 fishermen upon tue deep-sea lines, the species appears not to have been captured, except in 

 the Western Atlantic. 



From the Western Atlantic specimens have been s(;nt to tlie National Museum. Of 

 three of these the locality is not known, but they were obtained in the New York markets 

 by Mr. E. G. Blackford, and forwarded to Washington by him. The Albairos.s obtained 

 one at the surface (Cat. No. 2.'.2(!2 U. S. N. M.) in l-f^ 30' N. Lat., 57° 13' W. Long., and 

 another (Cat. 22292 U. S. N. M.) at a depth of 195 fathoms in 42° 4")' N. List., (nP W. Long. 

 The Gloucester fishermen obtained two on Le Have Bank, one (No. 2424."'>) at 275 fathoms, 

 another (No. 24214) at 120 fathoms; also, two others (Nos. 2429(1 and 24297) in 200 fathoms 

 at Lat. 420 37' N., Lon. i>2° 55' W., and aiK)tlier (No. 24243) in Lat. 43o 4(i' N., Lon. Ol^ 

 18' W. in 200 fathoms. A skull oi' Alepisanrm, from Van Diemen's Land, preserved in the 

 British Museum, has been provisionally identified by Giinther with those species, but it 

 seems scarcely safe to regard A. ferox as an iiiliabitaiit of the Australiaii seas until more 

 material has been obtained for study. 



A closely allied species, with somewhat shorter paired fins, has been described by Dr. 

 Bean under the name of .4. wsculapins. The fish was speared at Unalaska in October, 1880, 

 just as it was swimming upon the beach. It undoubtedly had come to the surface from the 

 deep adjacent to Captains Harbor, where it was captured. Tlu^ hundred-fathom line 

 at this point approaches rather close to the sliore. This individual had in its stomach twenty- 

 one individuals of the spiny lumpfish. It was Dr. Bean's oiuuion that it had been driven 

 ashore by the torture of a parasitic worm found in its flesh. The "Wolf Fish", as it is 

 called in this region, frequently is stranded on the beach at lliuliuk. 



