.'J!, coRYPn.>:N\. 405 



extending from the occiput nearly to tlic caudal, which is deeply 

 forked ; no distinct dorsal and anal si)incs ; the ventrals arc well 

 developed, and can be partly received in a groove on the abdomen. 

 Scales very small. Cardifcn-m teeth in the jaws, on the vomer and 

 the pidatine bones ; a patch of Ailliform teeth on the tongue, 

 liranchiostcgals seven ; ])seudol)ranchia^ and air-bladder absent. 

 Pyloric appendages exceedingly numerous. 



Inhabitants of the high seas of the teni])erate and tropical regions. 



In the last part of the Ifisioirc Naturelle des Poissons, prepared by 

 Cu\'ier himself, an incomplete note by some author, o:' a rough sketch 

 by a traveller, a ditferent locality, a slight modification of an organ, 

 at^cidental in an individual specimen, or dependent on age, have been 

 deemed sufhcient reasons by him for the creation of a number of 

 species, the names of which will be a heavy encimibrance to the 

 synonj-my for a long time to come. This tendency in the later years 

 of Cuvier appears to culminate in his treatment of Conjpha'aa. He 

 declared himself to be rather uncertain as to the importance of the 

 different relative height of the crest on the neck, and acknowledges 

 the possibility of the existence of sexual differences (pp. 31 1 & 314) ; 

 but he did not notice the remarkable circumstance that all his spe- 

 cimens with a high crest and an elevated dorsal fin {Corjipluvna) 

 were of large size, whilst his genus Lamjntgus was composed of fishes 

 not exceechng 2 feet in length ! I have no doubl , from comparison 

 not onlj^ of the specimens in this collection, but of many others, that 

 the crest and the anterior part of the dorsal fin become gi'adually 

 higher with age, and that Lcmipiu/us is the immature state of Coi't/- 

 ■phcrna. Whether there is also a slight difference between the sexes 

 in this res^icct, I am not able to decide. 



The single species of Corifphcena are difficult to distinguish. If 

 the coloration really were of great specific value, those who examine 

 preserved specimens cannot avail themselves of it. We depend, there- 

 fore, entirely on the relative height of the body and on the number 

 of the fin-rays, which, in spite of its being considerable, appears to 

 be very constant in the different species. We are enabled, by these 

 characters, to circumscribe several very distinct forms. Cuvier has 

 not acknowledged the identity of the Atlantic and Indian Cot'i/jJueme 

 (althougli he has done so in other genera), and yet he coidd not 

 point out their differences. In a family like the Scoi.ihridc, which 

 is nearly entirely composed of fishes inhabiting the high seas, and 

 endowed with a wonderful power of swimming, it is of no conse- 

 quence whether the same species he found in the Atlantic, in the 

 Indian Ocean, and in the Pacific. 



1 . Coryphgena hippurus. 

 A. Doubtful synonymy. 



Kopv(Paiva, Aristot. lib. v. e. 10. 



"Imvovpn^, Arinfof. lib. viii. c. 15: Athcn. lib. vii. \. o04 ; Opplaii. \. 



184, iii. 18(5, iv. 404. 

 ITippmuM, (hi<l ll<tl. v. 05: Plin. lib. i\, c. Ki. bb. \xxii c II. 



