492 DEEP SEA FISHES. 
(St) 
theory of such a passage in comparatively recent times, since its relationships 
with species from the Straits of Magellan and from Japan are closer than 
with those at present known to inhabit the Atlantic. As regards the theory 
of a bipolar distribution its evidence is entirely negative. 
MYXINE. 
Myxina Linné, 1754, Mus. Ad. Frid., I, 91. 
Myxine Linné, 1758, Systema, ed. 10, I, 650. 
For present purposes a complete synonymy of genus and species is 
unnecessary ; a few of the more important items in their history will suffice. 
The first unquestioned notice of a member of the genus is that of Kalm, 
1753, Resa, I, 100, who writes of some peculiarities of a species, likely to 
have been M. glutinosa, under the name of Pihraol or Pilor, recognizing it 
as a fish related to Petromyzon. Myxina glutinosa was named by Linné, 
1754, Mus. Ad. Frid., I, 91, Pl. 8, fig. 4, and was placed among the worms, 
where it was kept in the tenth and the subsequent editions of the Systema 
{the orthography of Myxina being changed to Myxine), also in the works of 
Gmelin and others of his followers. Bloch, 1795, in Part XII. of his great 
work, p. 67, Plate 413, definitely places the animal among the fishes, but 
gave it a name of his own, Gastrobranchus coecus. His description and 
figures give a very fair idea of the creature and of its structure. By far 
the most important works published on the subject are the classic essays 
of Johannes Miiller, 1835 to 1845, which make up his “ Vergleichende 
Anatomie der Myxinoiden, der Cyclostomen mit durchbohrtem Gaumen.” 
Some doubtful information, possibly in part to be referred to Myxine, con- 
cerning a fish of the Straits of Magellan was derived from Commerson and 
published by La Cépéde. The matter, however, must always remain 
conjectural since mucosity, roundness and diameter in an individual do 
not sufficiently establish either genus or species, and the more important 
particulars given, the entire absence of fins and an almost cylindrical tail, 
can be applied to none of the Myxinoids with which we are acquainted at 
the present time. The following are the particulars noted by La Cépéde, 
1803, Poiss., V., 652: “Point de nageoires pectorales ; point d’apparence 
d'autres nageoires; le corps et la queue presque cylindriques; la surface 
de lanimal répandant, en trés-grande abondance, une humeur laiteuse et 
gluante.” “ Murcnoblenna olivacea. La couleur générale olivatre et sans 
taches; le ventre blanchitre.” “Tl parvient 4 la longueur d’un demi-métre. 
