426 Dr. E. P. Wright 07i Deep-sea Dredging. 



and other specimens, I only allude to the discovery of this 

 species here as adding a species to the fauna of the deep-sea 

 zone. 



I understood from the men that they had discovered most 

 of the specimens of Hyalonema when shark-fishing ; but I was 

 not prepared to find sharks at a depth like this ; so I was some- 

 what surprised when the padrone of the boat asked for leave 

 to throw out the fishing-lines, just over the place where we 

 had drawn up the dredge. Some 600 fathoms of rope was let 

 out, the first 30 or 40 fathoms of which had fastened to it, 

 at intervals of a fathom, a series of smaller ropes, on each of 

 which was fastened a large hook, baited with a codling. This 

 fishing-tackle remained below for about two hours, when they 

 commenced to haul it in ; when it arrived at the last few 

 fathoms, they pulled in, one after the other, five or six speci- 

 mens of a shark, each specimen from three to four feet long ; 

 the species was the Centroscymnus ccelolepiSj Boc. & Cap. 

 These sharks, as they were hauled into the boat, fell down into 

 it like so many dead pigs ; there was not the smallest motion 

 of their bodies, no switching of their tails, not even a wink of 

 their eyes ; and I think there can be no reasonable doubt that 

 they were inhabitants of the same great depth as the Hya- 

 lonemay and that, on being dragged up through such a weight 

 of water, they were completely asphyxiated. It will not be 

 forgotten how violent all the members of the shark tribe are 

 on being caught. I have watched the boats arriving at day- 

 break at Setubal after a night's fishing for the surface-living 

 sharks, and, as each boat was emptied of its gory freight, 

 never, in a single instance, did I see any of the hundreds of 

 sharks thrown on shore that had not huge gashes on its head 

 and caudal regions ; and these had been inflicted to keep them 

 quiet. 



Thus I was enabled to add to the fauna of this deep-sea 

 valley a shark and a sponge; and on the authority of the 

 fishermen I am able to add, still further, a coral and a very 

 remarkable fish. A small hook, baited with a smaller-sized 

 fish than usual, happened accidentally to be fastened to the 

 tackle for catching the sharks, and on the line being drawn 

 up it was found that a small fish ( GJiiasmodon niger^ Johnson) 

 had swallowed the bait and hook and a considerable portion 

 of the line. This specimen is now in the Museum of Lisbon, 

 and is, perhaps, the most perfect specimen in any museum. I 

 see no reason to doubt that, if fished for, plenty of specimens 

 of this Chiasmodon will be found at these depths ; but though, 

 as Dr. Carte has shown *, this fish is very voracious, and 

 * Proceedings Zoological Society, 1866, p. 35, plate 2. 



