412 Survey of Fishing- Grounds, West Coast of Ireland, 1890—1891. 



Sands may presumably have been carried by the tide some way after death, but 

 there is no great depth of water for a very considerable distance in any 

 direction. The Humber specimen was trawled in the ordinary way, and there was 

 nothing to show that its surroundings were uncongenial. Professor Smitt is led 

 by the incompleteness of his compilation (" Hist. Skand. Fish." Ed, iii., 1893, 

 p. 154) to the observation that, north of Portugal, S. dactyloptera has never been 

 found south of Norway. 



Fam.— BERYCID-ffi. 



Genus Hoplostethus, Cuv. et Val. 



Hoplostethus mediterraneum, Cuv. et Val. (Deep-sea.) 



Hoplostethus mediterraneum, . . Gtjnther, '"Ann, Mag. Nat. Hist.," 1889, p. 417. 



This species was not met with during the survey, and is only known as 

 Briti.sh, from the cajiture of a single specimen by Mr. Green, in the " Flying 

 Fox," off the S.W. of Ireland, at a depth of 250 fathoms. This, according to 

 Dr. Gunther, furnished the first exact record of the vertical habitat. Vaillant 

 [Exp. Sci, p. 378) has since announced its occurrence at dej^ths of 75 to 777 

 fathoms off the coast of Morocco. Its horizontal range is very extensive, since 

 specimens have occurred in the Mediterranean, at Maderia, off the Atlantic coast 

 of the United States, and on the coast of Jaj)an {cf. Gunther, " Chall." xxii., 

 p. 21). 



It may be remarked that another member of the same family, Beryx 

 decadactylus, Cuv. et Val., may not improbably occur in deep water within the 

 British area, since examples have been taken off Bergen, in Norway. It is found 

 also off the coast of Poi-tugal, Madeira, the Azores and Canary Islands, and in the 

 sea of Japan. 



Fam.— TRICHIURID-ffi. 



Genus Lepidopus, Gouan. 



Lepidopus caudatus, Euphrasen. The Scabbard Fish. (Deep-sea.) 



Lepidopus argyreus, Ball, " Dublin. Nat. Hist, Rev.," ii., p. 45. 



This species, of which a specimen has been recorded by Ball, from Dublin Bay, 

 is included by Dr, Gunther in the Challenger Monograph on the deep-sea fishes as 

 '* probably an inhabitant of moderate depths, althougli no positive evidence has 

 been forthcoming as to its vertical distribution." 



