and their Anatomical peculiarities. 325 



in which that character is wanting, the former is kno^^^:l to na- 

 turalists as the Sternoptix diaphana. Owing to the great 

 rarity of this fish, it being hitherto known to no author ex- 

 cepting through the means of the very incorrect representa- 

 tion of it afforded by Hermann, and the specimen which that 

 naturalist has left in the museum at Strasbm-g, no opportu- 

 nity has yet offered for rectifying the mistakes into which 

 Hermann fell, who described this fish as devoid of gill-mem- 

 brane and of a lateral line, and Avho placed it among the 

 Apodes of Linnaeus, thus concluding it to be destitute of ven- 

 tral fins. Linnceus* indeed, at the conclusion of the descrip- 

 tion of his 1st class of fishes, — the pisces apodes — has, like 

 Hermann, given very erroneously the characters of the Ster- 

 noptix diaphana, and it remained for Cuvier,f while noticing 

 very shortly both species, to take occasion to correct some of 

 the inaccuracies of Hermann, and from examination of the 

 specimen which Hermann himself described, and which he 

 saw at Strasburg, to introduce it at the end of the Salmonidce, 

 the fourth family of his order Malacopteri/gii abdominales. 



While the two species adverted to, offer, in respect to their 

 general form, translucency in the caudal region, number of 

 branchial rays, character of the teeth, &c., points of diffe- 

 rence such as to have induced Cuvier to remark, " ces deux 

 especes pourront former un jour les types de deux genres," 

 they yet agree in the situation of the teeth, and in some strik- 

 ing peculiarities of general structure and form. 



But the species of Sternoptix which I proceed to describe 

 differs from both of the preceding in many, even generic cha- 

 racters, such as the situation, character, and number of the 

 teeth, the number of the branchial rays, and the components 

 of the different fins, and it differs also in respect to the loca- 

 lity in which it occurs ; for, while the two former seem to be 

 confined to the West India Islands, and the warmer parts of 

 the Atlantic, the latter has been hitherto observed only in the 

 Eastern Archipelago. I am unAvilling, however, in the pre- 

 sent imperfect state of our knowledge respecting this family 



• Systema Naturae Gmel. p. 1150. 



t Regno Animal, edit. 1829, torn. ii. p. 315. 



