142 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:4— April, 1918 



Saccopharynx ampulla is one species of these, and it will swallow 

 a fish very much larger than itself. Four species are known, 

 the one just named being six feet long, its tail being four times 

 the length of its body (Figs. 5 and 22). With even a more 

 capacious mouth, and an almost microscopic eye, the Gastrotonnus 

 bairdii is to be reckoned among the most remarkable of existing 

 deep-sea fishes. It was taken off the Newfoundland Banks, in 

 1467 fathoms of water, and it measures in length some eighteen 

 and a half inches, of which only six and a half inches can be claimed 

 by the body (Fig. 6). On the other hand, we meet with deep-sea 

 species with unusually small mouths, and many years ago I 

 described the osteology of one of these. We still have but one 

 specimen of it, which was purchased in the Havana markets in 



Fig. 22. The Gulper {Saccopharynx nmpulla). 



1872 by Prof. Philipi Poey, who named it Grammicolepis brachius- 

 culus (Fig. 15), impressed as he was by its short pectoral fins and 

 linear scales. As in other deep-sea species, it possessed very large 

 eyes, but not as large as we find them in such forms as Aleposomus 

 copei (Fig. 7), of which a specimen three and one-half inches in 

 length was taken in 2099 fathoms of water, or in Holocentrus 

 marianus (Fig. 13), a very spiny deep-sea species, with as many 

 bones in its skeleton as a shad. Indeed, its specific names is from a 

 negro word, marian, meaning "tough and bony." 



Another deep-sea species with a grotesque profile is the "Silver- 

 hatchet" (Argyropelecus olferst, Fig. 8). This fish goes down to 

 the greatest depths in the daytime, and only comes to the surface 

 at night. It belongs in the open Atlantic fauna, and has been 

 taken off the coast of Norway, Brazil, and South Africa. 



The matter of eyes as pertaining to the profile or lateral 

 physiognomy of fishes is very interesting. They often become 



