BAXKS'S OARFISH. 259 



strong spine, rising close within the frontal curve, the three 

 next very slender and much the closest together, and when the 

 dcscribers first saw the fish they were united in what remained 

 of their length by a membrane. The next was equally slender 

 with the preceding, but somewhat further apart, and the three 

 or four next in order were nearly as strong as the first. Those 

 which followed diminished in strength and length, so as to 

 become uniform with the rays of the dorsal fin. Exclusive of 

 the crest there were two hundred and sixty-eight rays in the 

 dorsal fin; the border of the membrane pale red. Pectoral fins 

 close behind the gill-covers, without colour, having eleven rays, 

 the longest measuring two inches. The ventral fins formed of 

 a pair of very strong and straight spines, having a border of 

 membrane; but they had been broken off at the end. No 

 mention is made of an air-bladder; and the stomach was scarcely 

 to be distinguished from the gullet. In it there appeared to 

 be grains of the spawn of fish." 



To this lengthened account it may be of interest to add, that 

 when the fish thus described was exhibited in London, I accom- 

 panied my friend Mr. Yarrell in a privileged visit of inspection 

 before it was laid open to the public; and that the figures I 

 prefer to give in illustration of its history were the result of 

 this examination; the bent form being adopted for the purpose 

 of including its larger dimensions within the limited size of the 

 plate. In the likeness contained in Sir John Richardson's 

 supplement to his edition of Mr. Yarrell's "History of Fishes," 

 the rays of the plume, or anterior part of the dorsal fin, are 

 represented as they appeared at first to the fishermen, and as 

 also they are marked by Mr. Hancock and Dr. Embleton, but 

 they did not exist in the fish when exhibited ; and it is preferred 

 to give in our representation on the plate only so much as 

 was seen by myself The caudal extremity also is deserving 

 of notice; for not only is there not a vestige of a fin, but a 

 peculiar organization is found there, which appears to possess 

 a power of some peculiarity of action. Regarding this, a note 

 made on the spot says that from a firm or bony fixed point 

 above, a bony curve with the concavity posterior passed to a 

 fixed point below; and from one of these fixed points to the 

 other was a thinner substance, which was more moveable than 



