Kix(; ov TiiK m:i{i!iN(;s. 



323 



Hanccick and 

 V(.l. IV, p. 1, 



Gymnetnis Bankr'ii. Cuv., Val., 1. c, p. .'UJi' 

 Embleton, Ann. Mag-. Na(. Hisl., ser. 2. 

 tab. I et II; Rich, in Yari!., Brit. Fuh., ed. It, SuppL, p. 

 27; Gtiir {Regalecus), 1. c, p. .SOO; Day, FiWi. (^'<. .fin<., 

 IrcL, vol. I, p. 2'20, tali. LXIV ; (V) McCoy. Prodr. Zool. 

 Vict., dec. X\', p. Klil, tab. 145. 



Obs. In lliis genus too, LuTKEX has pave<l tlie way t'ur a 

 reasonable reduction of the number of species hitherto recognised. 

 Still, it is as yet an open (]Uostion whofher the Mediterranean liecja- 



llu' characteristic that in its case the liody is deepest at the head or 

 just behind it. It is a thought which naturally suggests itself, tliat 

 this difference may be explained as a ditlerence of growth — the 

 largest specimen described by Valenciennes of the Mediterranean spe- 

 cies was 268 cm. in length, and there is no instance of so small a 

 specimen of Iler/alecus ylesne. It is also hardly probable that the 

 individual variations of this genus are less than those of the preceding 

 one''. Layard's'- specimen of G'jmnetriw capeiisi.s'' from the Cape of 

 (iood Hope, a form which Guntiier referred to the same species as 

 llefialecus ijladhni, probably measured, when entire, nearly 4 metres 

 in length and about 20 % of the distance between the vent and the 





Fig. 87. Regalecns gles/ie. The figure is partly schematic. About ' ,„ of the natural size. 



leciis gladuis" is really a distinct species from the Atlantic Regalecus I gill-opening in depth, the latter measurement even exceeding the 



glesne. The only tenable distinction hitherto suggested consists in the ' average depth of Regalecus glesne. According to Valenciennes, Rega- 



more elongated body of the former species; and in this genus as in | lecus gladius is furnished with more than 200 rays iu the anterior 



the preceding one, the Mediterranean species is said to be marked by part of the dorsal tin, measured for a distance of 1,678 mm., while 



" Cepola gladius. Walb., Art. Gen. Pise, App.. p. 017: Ggmnetnis gladius + Gymnetnis teluin, Cuv., Val., 1. c, pp. 352 and 361, 

 tab. 298—299. 



'' In the specimen of Regalecus glesne from Alstahoug (1859 — Bergen Museum), which had probably been 356—360 cm. in length 

 when perfect, the greatest depth of the body is only slightly more than ",., of the length of the body, according to Collett, or, according 

 to Lilljedorg, than >/,, thereof or about 22 % of the distance between the vent and the gill-opening. The latter measurement agrees closely 

 enough with Valenciennes's figure of Ggmnctvus teluin. 



' Proc. Zool. Soc. 1868, p. 321. 



<* Cuv., Val., 1. c. p. 376. 



