BEAKED SALMON. 481 



THE BEAKED SALMON, Family GONORHYNCHID^:. 



A third fish of the present section, constituting a family by itself, is the so- 

 called beaked salmon (Gonorhynchus greyi) from the seas of the Cape, Japan, and 

 Australia. Agreeing with the two preceding families in the absence of a fatty fin 

 this fish differs in having barbels to the mouth, while in the tail there is no true 

 caudal vertebra. Both the head and body are completely covered with scales, of 

 which the free edges are spinose ; and the margin of the upper jaw is formed entirely 

 by the short' premaxillse, which are continued downwards over the maxillae. The 

 short dorsal fin is situated far back on the body, above the pelvic pair, the still shorter 

 anal having a more posterior position; and the tail-fin is slightly forked. The 

 gill-openings are narrow, the air-bladder is wanting, and the stomach simple. 

 Measuring from 12 to 18 inches in length, this fish seems to be partly pelagic 

 and partly littoral in its habits ; being found in New Zealand, where it is known 

 as the sand-eel, in bays with a sandy bottom, while elsewhere it has been taken 

 in the open sea. In New Zealand its flesh forms an article of food. The family 

 is also represented by an extinct genus (Notogoneus) from the Eocene of the 

 United States. 



THE SCOPELOIDS, Family SCOPELID^:. 



As an example of an important family of, for the most part, pelagic or deep- 

 sea fishes, we select the so-called phosphorescent sardine, Scopelus engraulis, as 

 being a member of the typical genus. The members of this family agree with the 

 last in having the parietal bones united and no true tail- vertebra, but they may 

 be distinguished externally by the absence of barbels and the presence of a small 

 fatty fin some distance behind the dorsal, and likewise by the want of spines on 

 the scales, when the latter are present ; some genera having the body scaled, while 

 in others it is naked. The margin of the upper jaw is always constituted solely by 

 the premaxillse ; the gill-cover may be incompletely developed ; the gill-opening is 

 wide ; false gills are present ; but an air-bladder is wanting. The intestine is 

 remarkable for its shortness ; and the eggs are enclosed in the sacs of the ovaries, 

 whence they are extruded by means of ducts. Containing a large number of 

 existing genera, the family is likewise represented by several extinct types, the 

 earliest of which dates from the Cretaceous of Istria. 



In the typical genus the body is oblong in form and more or less markedly 

 compressed, with the investing scales of large size. Along the sides run series of 

 phosphorescent spots ; while similar glandular structures may in some species 

 occur on the front of the body and on the back of the tail. The cleft of the 

 mouth is unusually wide ; the prernaxillary bones being long, slender, and tapering, 

 and the maxillaB well developed. The teeth are villiform, and the eye is relatively 

 large. The pelvic fins are inserted just in front of or immediately below the line 

 of the foremost rays of the dorsal (which is situated nearly in the middle of the 

 length of the body), and are composed of eight rays ; the fatty fin is very small ; 

 the anal is generally long ; and the caudal forked. There are from eight to ten rays 

 in the branchiostegal membrane. Dr. Giinther writes that " the fishes of this genus 

 are small, of truly pelagic habits, and distributed over all the temperate and 



VOL. V. 31 



