taken off the coast of Northumberland. 5 
tion of the gill-covers. The above bones are exceedingly de- 
licate and fragile, and present the radiating lines of development 
with great prominence ; the silvery skin covering them is remark- 
able for its delicacy. 
The branchiostegal rays are seven in number; the uppermost 
a broadish plate marked by radiating lines, the rest diminishing 
successively in size having the ordinary characters of such rays. 
The four branchial arches diminish in size backwards, and the 
pharyngeal is less than the fourth branchial arch. ‘The rays of 
the convexities of the branchial arches are very numerous ; the 
concavities of these arches are beset with prominent blunt- 
pointed tubercles which are studded with a number of short sete 
or bristles, sharp-pointed but rather soft, which project inwards 
towards the pharyngeal cavity. The first branchial arch has in 
addition a row of short pale-coloured rays or plates, the inner 
edges of which are also furnished with sete which project likewise 
inwards. On the roof of the pharynx are two or three pairs of 
short laminz (pharyngo-branchial) furnished with similar sete, 
pointed backwards and downwards in the direction of the 
entrance to the esophagus. 
The dorsal fin extends from immediately behind the upper and 
posterior end of the curved frontal profile to within 3 inches of 
the tail of the fish. The anterior part of the fin, more prominent 
than the rest, is composed of twelve rays, which were stated by 
the captors to have been 12 or 14 inches in length when the fish 
was taken, and to be each furnished with a membranous expan- 
sion on its posterior edge, increasing in width upwards something 
like a peacock’s feather. 
The first ray is a pretty strong spe arising just within the 
frontal curve, the three next are very slender, and much closer 
together than the rest, and when we first saw the fish, united for 
4 or 5 inches (their length at that time) by a membrane ; the 
next is equally slender with the preceding, but rather farther 
apart ; the three or four after this are nearly as strong as the 
first, the rest diminish in strength and length, and become uni- 
form with the rays of the dorsal fin. 
It is difficult for us to say whether the twelve front rays con- 
stituted a detached crest or formed merely the anterior continu- 
ation of the dorsal fin, though after careful and repeated exami- 
nations we found shreds of membrane m each interval between 
them, and their bases also were connected with a continuous mem- 
brane. In the interval between the twelfth and thirtcenth rays the 
remains of a membrane were found connecting the bases of these 
rays, and their shafts were ragged and woolly-looking, as if a 
membrane had been torn off from them. We are therefore in- 
clined to conclude that the crest was really a continuation of the 
