Fishes taken at Madeira, 277 



1st dorsal, length of third ray 4^^ 



fourth ray 2^^ 



2nd dorsal, distance from snout 8f 



„ length of base 1 5| 



„ height towards front 1 j^ 



Pectorals, distance from snout 7t 



„ length 4J 



„ width of base A^ 



Ventrals, length on right side 10| 



,, „ left side 8-i- 



Vent, distance of its vertical from snout 13 



Anal, distance from vent | 



„ length of base 1 1| 



Tail, height behind second dorsal 1 J^- 



Caudal, length at middle 3^ 



>f « sides 4^ 



Order MALACOPTERYGII. 



Suborder Apodes. 



Saccopharynx ampullaceus, Harwood, sp. 



The curious fish which I am about to describe was taken in the 

 month of March, off the coast of Madeira, but under what cir- 

 cumstances I could not learn. The man from whom I obtained 

 it stated that he had a fish with two heads, two mouths, four 

 eyes, and a tail growing out of the middle of the back, which 

 had astonished the whole market ; and the fishermen one and 

 all declared they had never met with anything like it before. 

 At first sight it really did appear to be the monster described ; 

 but a short examination brought to light the fact that one fish 

 had been swallowed by another, and that the features of the 

 former were seen through the thin extensible skin of the latter. 

 On extracting the fish that had been swallowed, it proved to be 

 a Gadoid *, and to have a diameter several times exceeding that 

 of its enemy, whose stomach it had distended to an unnatural 

 and painful degree. 



As to the fish whose voracity had brought it to an untimely 

 end, it was immediately pointed out to me by Dr. Gunther, 

 when I showed him a sketch of the head, that it is closely related 

 to a fish described at some length by Dr. Harwood, in a memoir 

 printed in the VPhilosophical Transactions,^ in the year 1827, 

 under the name of Ophiognathus ampuUaceus. That eminent 

 ichthyologist also informed me that a member of the same genus 

 had been previously described by Dr. S. L. MitchiU, in the 

 Annals of the Lyceum of New York' for 1824, under the name 



* This Gadoid is the type of a new genus, and has been described by 

 Dr. Giinther under the name of Halargyreus Johnsonii. 



