Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America, 2597 



the fact tliat of those observed on the British and Scandinavian coasts 4 

 were observed in the month of January, 5 in February, 8 in March, 2 in 

 April, 1 in May, 1 in June, 1 in July, 2 in August, 1 in September, and 1 in 

 October. He also calls attention to the fact that by far the greater pro- 

 portion of their capture, in the Northern Hemisphere at least, is in the 

 stormy season. This agrees with what we know of the capture of Tra- 

 chypterus, which likewise seems to be brought to the surface only by great 

 commotions of the ocean. The popular name of Regalecus is oarfish, in allu- 

 sion to the blade-like expansion of the extremities of the 2 ventral fins. 

 Eegalecus is also called in the books the "king of the herrings." Strangely 

 enough, 110 representative of this genus has been found on the coast of 

 North America. Giinther is of the opinion that the distribution of this 

 fish in the depths of the sea is the same as that of Trachypterus. The simi- 

 larity in their geographical distribution is quite remarkable. (Goode & 

 Beau.) (Eu.) (glesne, from "Glesnses," a farm at Glesvser, near Bergen, 

 where the type of the species was taken.) 



Spada marina, IMPERATO, Hist. Nat., 679, 687, 1599, Naples. 



Regalecus glesne, ASCANIUS, Icones Ilerum Nat., n, pi. 11, about 1788, Glesvaer, Norway. 



Ophidium glesne, ASCANIUS, Nya Saml. Vid. Selsk. Skrivt., in, 419, 1788. 



Regalecus remipes, BRUNNICH, Nya Saml. Vid. Selsk. Skrivt., in, 1788, 414, taf. B., figs. 4, 5; 



WALBAUM, Artedi Piscium, HI, 647, tab. 3, fig. 4, 1792. 

 Cepola gladius, WALBAUM, Artedi Piscium, in, 617, 1792. 

 Gymnetrus hawkenii, BLOCK, Ichthyol., xn, 88, 425, 1792. 

 Gymnetrus grillii, LINDROTH, Vet. Akad. Handl. 1798, 291, pi. 8. 

 Gymnetrus ascanii, SHAW, Gen. Zool., IV, 197, 1803 ; after Ascanius. 

 Xypterus imperati, RAFINESQUE, Indice, 59, 1810; after Ferrante Imperato. 

 Gymnetrus longiradiatus, Risso, Eur. Merid., m, 296, 1826, Nice. 



Gymnetrus telium, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., x, 361, pi. 299, 1834, Nice. 

 Regalecus lanksii, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., x, 365, 1834, Filey Bay, 



Yorkshire. 

 Gymnetrus capensia, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., x, 376, 1834, Cape of Good 



Hope. 

 Regalecus glesne, ASCANIUS, Icones Ilerum Naturalium, 1806, pi. 11; LACEPEDE, Hist. 



Nat. Poiss., 11,214, 215, 1800; GOODE & BEAN, Oceanic Ichthyology, 480, tig. 395, 1896. 

 Gymnetrus remipes, BLOCK & SCHNEIDER, Syst. Ichth., 482, tab. 88, 180] ; TARRELL, Brit. 



Fishes, Ed. 2, 1, 223, and Ed. 3, II, 301. 



Gymnetrus glesne, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., x, 366. 

 Gymnetrus gladius, CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., x, 352, pi. 298, 1835. 

 Regalecus gladius, GUNTHER, Cat., HI, 308, 1861. 



Family CCXVII. TRACHYPTERID.E. 

 (THE KING OF THE HERRINGS.) 



Body moderately elongate, strongly compressed, naked, the skin smooth 

 or prickly. Lateral line present. Head short; the mouth rather small, 

 terminal, with feeble teeth ; premaxillaries protractile ; opercles unarmed ; 

 opercular apparatus abbreviated (the operculuin extended downward, 

 the suboperculum below it, and the interoperculum contracted backward 

 and bounded behind by the operculum and suboperculum) ; the cranium 

 with a myodome and dichost, the supraoccipital continued behind into a 

 prominence ; the epiotics confined to the sides and back of the cranium, 

 and without ribs. Eye large, lateral; branchiostegals 6; gill membranes 



