REMARKABLE FISHES. 79 



only large individuals of this type. Indeed, it is safe to 

 assign to this group all the so-called ' Sea Serpents ' which 

 have been described as swimming rapidly near the surface, 

 with a horse like head raised above the water, surmounted by 

 a mane like crest of red or brown. 



" The}' are so slender that one of them fifteen to twenty feet 

 long may not be more than ten or twelve inches in depth, and 

 nowhere more than one or two inches in thickness. Not very 

 much is known concerning them, as they are deep sea fishes, 

 coming to the surface at pleasure, or when driven in shore b}^ 

 storms; in the latter case usually in a mutilated condition, 

 their flesh being tender and their bones exceedingly brittle. 

 During the last centuiy and a half that these fishes have been 

 known, comparatively few individuals have been taken, while 

 they have frequently been seen swimming in the open seas, 

 their great size, undulating motion and projecting mane 

 causing them to be mistaken for a ' Sea Serpent.' It is not 

 known that more than one species exists." 



At the same time it is interesting to remember that the late 

 Prof. E. D. Cope,after compiling a large number of what he con- 

 sidered to be the most reliable accounts of the "Sea Serpent," 

 considered it barely possible that a gigantic, swimming reptile, 

 belonging to the Pythonomorpha, might still be in existence, 

 although this group first appeared in the Cretaceous Period, 

 and is not known to have continued beyond Mesozoic Time. 



The second family of the Ribbon Fishes includes twelve 

 species, and these are much better known and more abundant 

 than the members of the first family. They inhabit the east- 

 ern x^tlantic, the Mediterranean, and have been found as far 

 west as Madeira and Cuba. They are also reported from 

 South America, New Zealand and elsewhere. Young indivi- 

 duals from two to four inches in length are frequently seen 

 near the surface, and these exhibit the most extraordinary 

 development of fin rays to be observed in the whole Class of 

 Fishes, some of them being several times larger than the body 

 and provided with lappet like dilatations, delicate and fragile 



