Indian Deep-sea Fishes. 137 



the time I wrote our observations were only beginning, it did 

 not then seem either necessary or advisable to pursue this 

 subject further. 



But our investigations are now perhaps sufficiently full to 

 enable us to form an idea of the geographical relations of the 

 deep-sea fish-fauna of India, and sufficiently numerous to be 

 used as a test of certain theories of past geography and zoolo- 

 gical distribution that are based on other and various kinds of 

 evidence. I may therefore briefly summarize them. 



The total number of species of fishes, exclusive of incidental 

 shore-fishes, at present known to exist in the seas of India at 

 depths over a hundred fathoms is 159, of which 120 have 

 not, so far as is known, been found elsewhere. 



Of the 39 previously-known species, the following6 probably 

 belong to the fauna of the " Necton," and are not therefore 

 made use of in this paper in any argument based on the 

 facts of geographical distribution : — 



1. Argyropelecus liemigymuus, 4. Gonostoma microdot!, Gthr. 



Cocco. 5. elongatum, Gthr. 



2. Sternoptyx diaphana, Herm. 6. Ckauliodus Sloanii, Bl. Schn. 



3. Polyipnus spinosus, Gthr. 



Of the remaining 33, 6 more may possibly belong to the 

 nectic fauna, though I do not think that they do, and shall 

 not here treat them as if they did. They are : — 



1. Hoplostethus mediterraneum, 4. Antigonia capros, Lowe. 



C. V., Gthr. 5. Neoscopelus macrolepidotua, 



2. Polymixia nobilis, Lowe. Johns. 



3. Trachichthys Darwinii, Johns. G. Macrurus lcevis, Loice. 



Of the remaining 27, 15 appear to be identical with species 

 that were dredged, chiefly by the ' Challenger,' at corre- 

 sponding depths in the basins of the East-Indian Archipelago 

 and neighbouring Western Pacific. These hardly call for 

 further notice. 



Of the remaining 12, 1 (Scyllium canescens, Gthr.?) appears 

 to be identical with a ' Challenger ' species from the Pata- 

 gonian fjords (Pacific side). Singular as this distribution 

 may seem, it is shared by several species among the Echino- 

 derma, Crustacea, Pycnogonida, and Mollusca. And if 

 genera, rather than species, are considered, it will be found 

 that quite a considerable number are common to Indian seas 

 and the Pacific slopes of South America — from Panama to 

 Patagonia. 



There are left 11 previously-known species that share with 



