82 Description of a Fish resembling the Stylephorus. 



Description of an extraordinary Fish, resembling the Sty- 

 lephorus of Shaw. By S. L. Mitchill, M. D. Read 

 February 3, 1824. 



This individual was presented to me by Captain Hector 

 Coffin. It was taken during a voyage from Londonderry to 

 New-York, in latitude 52° N. and longitude 30° W. It was 

 discovered afloat about twenty yards from the vessel. A boat 

 was hoisted out for the purpose of raising it. The creature 

 Was raised from the water without any resistance, and died in 

 fifteen minutes after being brought on board. 



When first seen, the belly was distended, as if blown up to 

 the size of a quart decanter, or the crown of a hat. The sto- 

 mach contained a fish ten inches long, which, from its sound 

 state, appeared to have been recently swallowed. That fish 

 was not preserved. 



The length was six feet; of which fourteen inches belonged 

 to the body, or the space between the extremity of the up- 

 per lip beneath to the vent. The tail was flagelliform, or like 

 the lash of a whip, and gradually tapered away in the course 

 of fifty-eight inches to a point. Toward the end it was flexible 

 enough to be tied into knots, after the manner of a string or a 

 cord. 



The specimen was a female ; and the colour a dusky brown, 

 resembling that of a dark eel. 



Its aspect, when raised from the jar of alcoholic spirit, in 

 which it had been well preserved, was so strange and ambigu- 

 ous, that, until I discovered gills, I could not satisfactorily de- 

 cide that it was a fish. The roes were very distinct, the ova- 

 ries being large and full of eggs. 



The pisciform character being settled, I endeavoured to de- 

 termine the order to which it systematically belonged. Though 

 the absence of ventral fins led to its classification among the 

 \podes, yet the want of opercles and branchial apertures, to- 



