2788 



THE BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS 



since which date only fifteen other examples were recorded up to 1878. All these 

 fishes are, indeed, known almost entirely from examples found in a dead or dying 

 condition on the surface of the ocean, or cast ashore by the waves. In this state 

 the whole of their tissues are so disintegrated and broken that the body can scarcely 

 be lifted whole from the water, and it is thus evident that ribbon fishes are inhabit- 

 ants of the lower strata of the ocean, although at what precise level they live has 

 not yet been ascertained. They are found in all seas, but are mostly of very rare 

 occurrence on the surface, the single representative of the genus Styhphorus being 

 only known by one example captured in the early part of this century near Cuba; 

 while the same is the case with regard to Russell's ribbon fish from Madras. That 

 the young are also deep-sea fishes is, as Dr. Giinther remarks, perfectly evident 



RISSO'S THORNBACK. 

 (One-half natural size.) 



from their filamentous fins, which would be irretrievably damaged if their owners 

 did not live at depths where the water is perfectly undisturbed. From the expan- 

 sion of the extremities of the pelvic fins, Banks's ribbon fish has been named the 

 oar fish; while from a supposed idea that it accompanied the shoals of those fishes, 

 it has likewise been designated the king of the herrings. It has been suggested 

 that large ribbon fish floating on the surface have given rise to many of the reports 

 regarding the sea serpent; but, as Dr. Giinther pertinently points out, such dead or 

 dying creatures do not by any means accord with the active movements generally 

 attributed to that mythical monster. Still, however, we believe that a stranded 

 ribbon fish has been mistaken for a dead sea serpent. 



THE THORNBACKS Family NOTACANTHlDsE 



The last family of the great division of spiny-finned fishes we have been consid- 

 ering in the foregoing paragraphs includes only the deep-sea fishes known as thorn - 

 backs, all of which are referred to the single genus Notacanthus. These fishes are 



