376 EIGHTH PACIFIC SCIENCE CONGRESS 



Due to inadequate exploration the eastern limits of the Indo-Aus- 

 tralian Province are unknown. It may, however, be stated that, although 

 its deep waters have hydrographic characteristics very similar to those 

 of the Hawaiian Islands, the wide intervening abyssal area has acted 

 as an effective dispersal barrier with a consequent attenuation of the 

 fauna and a great endemism in the Hawaiian Province. None of the 

 Hawaiian macrourids are known from other areas. Among the endemic 

 forms may be listed Bathygadus bowersi, Coelorhynchus gladius, C. atra- 

 trum, C. doryssus, Hymenocephalus antraeus, H. aterrimus, H. striatu- 

 luSj Malacocephaliis hawaiinesis, Lionurus antherodon, L. ctenomelas, 

 L. propinquus, L. holocentrus, L. gibber, Mataeocephalus acipenseriuus 

 and Trachonurus sentipellis. 



The Panamanian Province, comprising the west coast of Central 

 America and northern South America, is even more isolated from the 

 East Indies than is Hawaii, and its deep waters are warmer than those 

 farther west. Here appears another large group of endemic forms: Tra- 

 chyrhynchus helolepis, Coryphaenoides bucephalus, C. capita, C. boops, 

 C. carminijer, C. anguliceps, Coelorhynchus canus, Lionurus loricatus, L. 

 convergens, L. latirostris and L. fragilis. 



The gap on the North American coast between the Boreal and Pa- 

 namanian Provinces suggests the existence of still another faunal area. 

 This Californian Province is poorly defined. Of its three known archi- 

 benthic macrourids, Lionurus liolepis is endemic, L. stelgidolepis ranges 

 to Panama and is undoubtedly a southern derivative, while Coryphae- 

 noides acrolepis is a boreal species which extends to Kamchatka. It is 

 probable that a comparable Peruvian Province exists in the southern 

 hemisphere, but our knowledge of the deep-water fishes of that area is 

 so incomplete that no definite conclusions can be reached. 



