CHAP. I. | FROM PORTSMOUTH TO TENERIFFE. 
procured was now much larger; and, in ad- 
dition to the smaller invertebrates which 
were usually almost the sole produce of the 
dredge, several fishes were taken, and many 
of the larger crustaceans and echinoderms. 
It is of course open to question, in such 
cases, whether the fishes have come from 
the bottom, and are to be referred to the 
depth indicated by the sounding, or wheth- 
er they may have entered the trawl at some 
stage of its way to the surface. The fishes 
captured on the present occasion were a 
single specimen of Jlora Mediterranea, two 
of Coryphenoides serratus (Fig. 23), and one 
or two small forms which were undoubtedly 
from the surface. The J/ora was in a very 
peculiar condition: its eyes were blown 
nearly out of its head by the expansion of 
air contained probably in some spaces about 
the spinal cord, and its swimming - bladder 
was forced out at its mouth and distended 
almost to bursting; the Coryphwnoides had 
likewise the eyes forced outward, but the 
distortion was not so great. All the fishes 
were almost denuded of scales; it is evi- 
dent, therefore, that all must have come 
from a considerable depth. As ora is 
common at moderate depths in the Medi- 
terranean, it is more than probable that it 
came from some intermediate zone. Cory- 
phenoides is one of a family, the Macrv- 
RID®, Which has yielded us by far the great- 
er number of our deep-sea fishes ; and from 
their peculiar appearance, from the condi- 
121 
Fig. 23.—Corypheenides ser- 
ratus, LowE. 
natural size. 
Half the 
(No. 4.) 
