Ki;i,-ri>;iiKs. 



Iit21 



turc^ (if tlu; s|».'<'ics iiiii\' bp recognised witlidiil dillifiilty. 

 GOnthki! iiicntidiis l^eiitoccplialdids iis iiuicli iis 10 I'aris 

 inclics (■270 mm.) long-"; ;iiid Kacciola t'ouiid larva' <il' 

 the i-iimmmi ('(Higer in tiie tirst stage of dc\('l(i|im('nt 

 (LeptocephalKs ItKeijualls) that measured TG — 140 mm., 

 while almost typical fry of the same species were only 

 75 ram. long. Glntiikr also considers it protiahle that 

 not all these larvie foUow the normal course oi' dc\'e- 

 lopment and become Congers, but that some ol them 

 — perhaps when thev are borne by the current or some 

 other agency out into the open sea or too far from the 

 coast where the species deyelops under noi-mal condi- 

 tions — may lead a pelagic, but niorl)id (hydropic) life, 

 increasing in size, though never attaining the typical 

 structure of their species or propagating themselves. 

 Among the Leptocephali of the Koyal iMuseuni we find 

 a specimen, otherwise uninjured, and taken in the 

 middle of the Atlantic, south-west of the Azores (Lat. 

 31° 13' N.; Long. 35° 46' W.), that has five vesicular 



duliitable and li."> doubtful species; in 1<S8;! Jokdan and 

 (iii.iiKKT'' estimated ihc nundier of the species then 

 known at about •2S0. The great vai'ialiility of form 

 indeed dcpri\-es any such estimates of c< inclusive author- 

 ity; but the nund)er of species is at all events con- 

 siderable enough to necessitate the arrangement of the 

 series in several divisions. Bleekek established six 

 families within the scries. riiNTUEii was of opinion 

 that, ciiiisidering the transition-forms and tlu- varia- 

 bilit\- of the Ijiehelymorphs, the whole series might be 

 included within one family {Murceniche); but at the 

 same time he established ten subfamilies, the majority 

 of which HUght well laj- claim to th(! i-ank of distinct 

 families. The Scandinavian fauna contains only two 

 members of one among these families; but for the 

 European fauna several of them possess interest. On 

 the English coast there occurs, though seldom, the Me- 

 diterranean Murama {Mumna Iidena), which we have 

 mentioned above, the type of the Gymmthoracidfe (Blee- 



FiK 274. Leptocephalu.1 Monifii (?), from tin- AUanlic; takLii in Lat. 31 1.-.' N.; \jmi:. :!5° 4(i' W. Natural size. 



tumours — two of large size, occupying the whole 

 depth of the body, and three smaller ones, in the dor- 

 sal region — full of fluid and with the myomeres more 

 or less atrophied. Sickliness and an abnormal manner 

 of life might well explain, as Gunthek has pointed out, 

 the inc(jnstancy both of form and structure that m:\rks 

 these larvir. From the Mediterranean 35 s]K'cies of the 

 so-called genus Leptocephalus have been described'', but 

 without evidence to show that the specific characters 

 are more than individual variations. 



The Knehehniorph series is fairly rich in forms. 

 Bleeker'' had examined in 1864 more than 250 si)ecies. 

 In 1870 GCnther adopted in his Cataloffue 227 in- 



ker's Gi/mnofliordcoldei, GCntiier's Muianidm engy- 

 schistte, with narrow slits between the branchial arches), 

 a family very rich in forms, especially in India, and with 

 naked body, laterall}- compressed, and no pectoral fins. 

 The Enchelymoriihs live both in fresh and .salt 

 water; but most of them are marine fishes. A great 

 number are deep-sea forms' — some of them taken in 



more than 4,000 fathoms of watei and show reduc- 



ticjiis still more comprehensive than those we have 

 described above, tlie piscine type consequently appear- 

 ing in such simplicity that it is sometimes difficult 

 to decide in which order the forms have their right 

 place. 



■' Vat. Bnt. Mus., Fish., vol. VIII, p. 143. 



^ ('arls. Prodi: Fme Medit., vol. II, p- S-ttJ- 15"l ('.Mius remarks witli reganl to these species, '-Not.v specitiea? tantuin variant, iit 

 species distinctic vix tlescribi possint. 



'■ Atl. Ichth. Ind. Orient. Ni-erl., tome IV, p. .0. 



'' Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 16, pp. 355, seqq. 



' GtJNTHER (Deep Sea Fauna, Cliall. Exped.) knew 14 such species. an<l Vaiixant (E.vped. .Scient. Ti-availleiii: Talisman; Poissons) 

 36, exclusive of the Leptoeephaloids. 



