3. HEGAIiECUS. 309 



and presented by J. M. Jones, Esq. It probably belongs to this 

 species ; the spine is thirty-one inches long. See Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1860, p. 185*. 



2. Begalecus telum. 

 Gymnetrus telum, Ouv. 8f Val x. p. 361. pi. 299. 

 D. 398. A. 0. C? V. 1. 

 The height of the body is one-twenty- fourth of the total length. 

 Eye situated in the anterior third of the head. 

 In every other respect similar to R. gladius. 

 Typical specimen six feet eight inches long. 

 Coast of Nice. 



3. Regalecus banksii. 



The Ribbon-fish. The Oar-fish. 



? Gymnetrus hawkenii, Bl. xii. p. 88. taf. 425 ; Luc^. ill. p. 380. 

 ? GjTnnetrus hawkinsii, Bl. Schn. p. 481 ; Cuv. Sf Val. xii. p. 372. 

 Gymnetrus hawkenii, Shaw, Zool. iv. p. 197 ; Couch, Trans. Linn. Soc. 



xiv. p. 77 ; Yan: Brit. Fishes, 2nd edit. i. p. 221, 3rd edit. ii. p. 302. 

 banksii, Cuv. Sf Val. x. p. 365; Hancock, Ann. Sf Mag. Nat. Hist. 



1849, iv. p. 1. pis. 1 & 2 (excellent description, cop. in Yarr. Brit. 



Fishes, 3rd edit. ii. p. 293). 

 Regalecus glesne, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1849, p. 80, and Ann. (5|- Mug. 



Nat. Hist. 1849, v. p. 501. 



B. 6t. U. ^^,. A. 0. CO. P. 11. V. 1. 



The length of the head is one-sixteenth of the total, the height of 

 the body one- thirteenth. The snout is truncated, the cleft of the 

 mouth vertical, and the upper jaw veiy protractile. Teeth none. 

 The eye is one-sixth of the length of the head, and situated in the 

 anterior and upper half of the head. Head longer than high. Ven- 

 tral ray fringed with a membrane. The anterior twelve or fifteen 

 spines form an elevated crest. Four longitudinal flattened ridges 

 extend from the head to the tail immediately above the lateral Une, 

 which cuts them off very obliquely in front. The surface of the skin 

 of the body is studded with very numerous tubercles of bone ; the 

 largest and most elevated lie upon the ridges. On the ventral lidge 

 are numerous irregular and prominent tubercles, slightly hooked 

 backwards. The lateral line is marked by elongate flat scales, and 

 runs along the lower third of the body. SUvery, with irregular, 

 slightly waving, subvertical dusky-black lines and spots on the an- 

 terior part of the body. 



British Seas. 



a. Eleven feet long (tail mutilated ; restored length twelve feet) : 

 stuffed. Redcar. (See Gray in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1850, p. 52.) 



* This account, from the pen of an author not accustomed to ichthjological 

 descriptions, ascribes a swimming-bladder, filled with oilj matter, to this fish, 

 &e. ! It adds, howcA'er, to its history the new fact of its occurrence at the 

 Bermudas. 



t I suppose that Hancock, who denies the presence of a suboperculum, but 

 gives the immber seven for the branchiostegals, the uppermost being a broadish 

 plate marked by radiating lines, has taken the former for a branchiostcgal. 



