552 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN. 



On the Scandinavian coast only one specimen of this 

 little fish (which evidently belongs to the North Greenland 

 seas) has been taken, and this was many years since, off the 

 strand, in Sondmor, West Norway. 



Gen. 8t#r1wptyX) Herrm. 



Body compressed, high, scaleless, silvery, with a thin, 

 bony keel along the abdomen, and a shorter one on the 

 back; mouth large; preopercle with one spine; one short 

 dorsal, and behind that a rudimentary adipose fin, as in the 

 last genus ; anal long ; tail deeply cloven. 



111. STEENOPTYS OLFEKSII, Cuv. Olfers Platt Fisk. 



A double row of four spots under the root of the tail 

 fin, and twelve along the side of the abdominal keel. A 

 rare tropical fish, generally about 2 in. long; colour 

 along the back dark, for the rest the whole colour 

 appears to be silvery. Br. 9; D. 9 ; P. 10; Y. 6; A. 

 12; C. 19. 



Two specimens have been taken on the coast of West 

 Norway, probably brought up there by the gulf stream. 

 Many rarities are carried to far distant coasts from the land 

 to which they belong, through the agency of this gulf 

 stream. For instance, the seeds of the American Mimosa 

 Scandens, Dolichos urens, etc., are frequently taken off the 

 coast of Heligoland. 



And here I will quote an excellent remark of Professor 

 Bell's, in his work on British reptiles : 



1 ' The single, and purely accidental, occurrence of a bird 

 or of a fish within the range of our guns, or of our nets, has 

 always been deemed sufficient warrant to constitute the wan- 

 derer fair game to our native faunists. It may, perhaps, be 

 doubted whether the important and interesting subject of 

 the geographical distribution of animals can receive much 

 illustration from thus swelling the catalogue of local species 

 by the addition of such as owe their place in our fauna rather 

 to the caprice of the winds or the waves, to the violence of a 

 storm, or the temptation of an unusual chase after their food, 



