250 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[April 27, 1883. 



while in discharging chemical action produces energy in 

 the form of a current of electricity. 



The Kaure accumulator has been lately entirely super- 

 seded by more convenient forms of cells, such as the Sellon- 

 Volckmar, the Fitzgerald, A'c, but the theory of the 

 chemical action is the same for any form of cell in which 

 lead is employed at both electrodes, with dilute sulphuric 

 acid as an electrolyte. 



A NEW DEEP-SEA FISH. 



[Eurtipharynx pelecanoides.) 



DURING the last cruise of the Travaifli;ur we found 

 off the coast of Morocco, at a depth of 2,300 metres 

 (2,515 yards), a fish which may be regarded as one of the 

 most singular beings that deep-sea dredgings have ever 

 brought to light. This animal, which is about 0'47 metre 

 (IS}; in.) in length and 002 metre (* in.) in width at the 

 widest part, is of an intense black colour. The body. 



approximate it to the intermaxillary. The maxillary is 

 wanting, unless we admit that these two bones are con- 

 I founded. 



Upon both jaws small dental granulations may be felt; 

 I and at the extremity of the maxillary bone are seen twcv 

 hooked teeth, 0002 nidtre ( ,\. in.) in length. The buccal 

 orifice, as a consequence of such an arrangement, is enor- 

 mous, and leads to a cavity whose dimensions are still 

 ; more astonishing. In fact, the upper jaw is united to the 

 j sides of the head and of the fore-part of the body by an 

 extensible cutaneous fold that permits of considerable 

 I stretching ; and, between the branches of the maxillary 

 ; bones, there extends an analogous cutaneous membrane 

 which is much more dilatable, and contains, as shown by 

 I a histological examination, a large number of elastic fibres 

 1 in bundles. It may be well compared with the mouth of 

 i the pelican. 



As a consequence of the stretching of the jaws and the 

 extensibility of the membranes, the mouth in the living 

 animal forms, along with the pharynx, a vast funnel, of 



THE EUUYPIIARYNX PELECANOIDES. 



whose form is hidden in front by the abnormal mouth, 

 recalls that of the Macrurus. It tapers ofl' regularly from 

 the anterior quarter, at which point is observed the external 

 branchial orifice, and terminates in a point at the caudal 

 extremity. The anus is located at the junction of the 

 anterior third with the two posterior thirds of the body. 



What gives this fish a very peculiar physiognomy is the 

 arrangement of the jaws and the conformation of the mouth, 

 which further exaggerate what Mr. Ayres has described 

 in the Malacosteus niger. Although the head is short, 

 scarcely OO.'J metre (IJ in.), the jaws and suspensorium are 

 excessively elongated, the later measuring no less than 

 0-095 mitre. It results from this that the articular angle 

 is carried very far back, to a distance from the end of the 

 nose equal to about three-and-a-half times the length of the 

 cephalic portion. This suspensorium, as far as can bo 

 judged, consists of but two pieces — the one basilar, ana- 

 logous to the temporal, and the other external, representing 

 without doubt a tympanojugal. The upper jaw is formed 

 of a long and slender stylet, the situation of which should 



which the fish's body seems to b-e the tapering continua- 

 tion. It is presumable that food accumulates in this 

 pouch, and may be partially digested therein, a fact com^ 

 parable with what has been pointed out in the Chiasmodus 

 tiigrr, Johnson. 



The locomotive organs are of the most rudimentary 

 nature. The side fins are reduced to two very small 

 appendages, whose position near the branchial orifice 

 should make them correspond to the pectorals. The 

 ventrals are wanting. At a distance from the occiput 

 nearly equal to the length of the head begins a dorsal tin, 

 which extends nearly the whole length of the back, without, 

 however, reaching the end of the tail. The anal fin, which 

 has a similar arrangement, has it origin at a few milli- 

 metres behind the anus, and ends at the same point as the 

 dorsal. The extremity of the body is surrounded with a 

 small membranous fold — a sort of rudimentary caudal fin. 

 The delicate and flexible rays of these odd fins are not 

 articulated, or, as far as can be judged from the animal 

 preserved in liquor, united by a membrane. 



