REPORT ON THE DEEP-SEA FISHES. 73 



figured by Costa, but it is impossible to say whether it is the young of a species 

 already known or of one peculiar to that part of the Indian Ocean.' 



Stylophorus, Shaw. 



This extraordinary type is still known from the single example only {Stylophorus 

 chordatus) which was found at the beginning of this century between Cuba and 

 Martinique. Since I examined this fish in 1860, it has so much deteriorated, that no 

 further information can be gleaned from it beyond that which I gave in the Catalogue 

 of Fishes, vol. iii. p. 306. It has recently been transferred from the Royal College 

 of Surgeons to the collection of the British Museum. 



Regalecus, Brlinn. 



Oar-fishes have the same wide range in the depths of the sea as Deal-fishes, and 

 like these, they have singularly not yet been observed on the American coasts of the 

 Atlantic. They fall still more rarely into the hands of competent observers than the 

 Tracliiipteri, and then generally in a more or less mutilated condition. The usual 

 method subsequently adopted of preserving them dry or stuffed completes their destruc- 

 tion and renders them aU but useless for future examination and comparison.' Hence, 

 any attempt at distinguishing separate species is at present open to serious objections. 

 With regard to the specimens found in the North Atlantic, Liitken,' and CoUett,'' have 

 come to the conclusion that they are all the same species. 



In the following list I have endeavoured to enumerate the specimens, the capture of 

 which has been hitherto recorded ; and it is noteworthy that by far the greater propor- 

 tion of their captures fall into the stormy season, at any rate in the northern hemi- 

 sphere. Thus, of those obtained on the British and Scandinavian coasts, we find four in 

 the month of January, five in February, eight in March, two in April, one in May, 

 June, and July each, two in August, one in September, and one in October. Of the 

 six captured off" the Cape of Good Hope and in New Zealand, one is recorded for each 

 of the months of February, May, June, July, September, and October. 



1 Since tlie above paragraph was written (1878), C. Emery lias demonstrated by a series of young examples of 

 Trachypterus txnia, that the fin-rays commence to grow when the young is about 6 mm. long, and continue to 

 lengthen till the fish is about four times that size, after which period a shortening of the rays takes place. Alt. Accad. 

 Line, vol. iii., 1879, p. 390, c. figs. 1-6. 



2 I would recommend to all who may happen to secure one of these valuable specimens, to cut the fish into 

 convenient lengths and preserve them in the strongest spirit, each piece WTapped separately in muslin. 



3 Vid. Meddel. nat. Form. KjiPhenhMvn, 1881, p. 190 ; Oversigt K. D. Vid. Setsk. Forhandl., 1882, p. 206. 

 " Forhandl. Vidensk. Selsk. Christ, 1883, No. 16. 



(ZOOL. CHALL. EXP. — PART LVII. — 1886.) -L" 1" 



