400 THE REV. R. T. LOWE ON ALEPISAURUS, 
last edition of the ‘ Régne Animal’, and placed as an appendix at the end of the Scom- 
bride. Without, however, being aware of this, I had come to the conclusion some 
time since, that the proper station for Alepisaurus must be amongst the Scombride, in 
the neighbourhood of Gempylus and Thyrsites ; and the alteration of Cuvier’s views re- 
garding the place of Lepidopus and Trichiurus, since discovered, affords at once a satis- 
factory confirmation of such a conclusion, and justifies my original idea of its close 
affinity with Lepidopus. 
The four genera Thyrsites, Gempylus, Lepidopus, and Trichiurus may be considered 
as forming, with Alepisaurus, a small subordinate but highly interesting group, con- 
necting the Scombride with the now expurgated Tenioide. The second adipose dorsal 
fin in Alepisaurus may be perhaps a modification only of the characteristic spurious fin- 
lets of its family. It even recalls to mind the separate hinder portion of the dorsal fin 
in Histiophorus, Cuv., or in an adult Xiphias. The general habit of the fish ; its pecu- 
liar liability to be infested with intestinal worms, evinced in all the specimens observed ; 
the powerful forked caudal fin, with the peculiar mode of its setting on, or of its pene- 
tration by the tail, owing to the large number of short accessory rays; and above all 
the gelatinous keeled lateral line, are all truly Scombridal characters. It may be added, 
that the complete development of the ventral fins gives it a higher claim than Lepidopus 
possesses to a place amongst Scombride’. 
The engraving is reduced from a most carefully executed drawing in outline of the 
fish while perfectly fresh, the size of life, kindly undertaken by my talented and accom- 
plished friend Miss Young, checked by repeated and scrupulously accurate measure- 
ments of my own. 
PLATE LIX. 
Fig. 1. The entire fish. 
2. The head as seen from above. 
3. Side view of the upper jaw, with the lip or intermaxillary raised to show the 
palatal teeth. The teeth represented in dotted outline are those which lay 
loose among the integuments of the palate: they are figured in the position 
they respectively occupied when raised a little by the point of a knife. 
' Since writing the above, I have received a letter from my able and zealous coadjutor Miss Young, dated 
Madera, June 22, 1835, giving some account of a fourth larger but much broken specimen, also caught off 
Camera de Lobos, which she has had an opportunity of examining since I left the island. The examination 
was most satisfactory, tending altogether to confirm the foregoing supplementary account. She writes: ‘‘ The 
¢eeth were exactly on the same plan, but varying a little in number from the former (the third) specimen. The 
first dorsal fin had forty-two rays; its shape the same as in the last specimen, high in front, and straight to 
near the end. The ventral fins were unequal (perhaps from injury), the right having 1 + 9, the left only 
1 + 8rays. The caudal fin was much broken. The branchiostegous membrane had seven rays on both sides. 
The gelatinous keel on the lateral line was very high and distinct. The colours were not so bright as in the 
third specimen, though the present was quite fresh. In other respects it agreed with the former specimens.” 
