FAMILY EAILD^. 377 



GENUS CEPHALOPTERA. Dumeril. 



The pectorals produced into long processes at their anterior entremities, presenting the ap- 

 pearance of two horns. Teeth slender. Dorsal small. Tail slender, with a serrated spine. 



THE SEA DEVIL. 



Cephaloptera vampirds. 



PLATE LXVIl. FIG. 219. 



The Vampire of the Ocean, C. vampirus. MiTCHiLL, Annals Lyceum, N. Y. Vol. 1. p. 23, pi. 2, fig. 1. 

 Cephaloptera giorna. Lesueur, Jour. Arad. Nat. Sciences, Vol. 4, p. 117, pi. G, fig. 1. 



Characteristics. Tail longer than the body, and armed with one or more spines. Dorsal be- 

 tween the ventrals. Anterior margin of the pectorals convex ; posterior 

 concave. Width 16-18 feet. 



Description. Body large ; the transverse much exceeding its longitudinal diameter. Skin 

 rough to the touch, as in many species of Squalus, but without any evident tubercles or spines. 

 Head not distinct from the body, subtruncate in front, slightly convex. Mouth subterminal, 

 with very small teeth in seven or eight rows in the lower jaw, distant, and in quincunx ; those 

 of the upper jaw scarcely visible. Nostrils small, and placed near the angles of the mouth, 

 two feet apart. Eyes prominent, lateral, four feet apart, and placed on an eminence at the 

 base of the frontal appendices. Branchial apertures narrow, linear, varying from one to two 

 feet in length, with valvular coverings. Tail long, slender, subcompressed, terminating in a 

 slender extremity. 



The dorsal fin small, triangular, with thirty-six rays, and placed ever the base of the tail 

 between the ventrals ; a short serrated spine, just anterior to it. Pectorals much elongated, 

 pointed, arched in front, concave behind ; the frontal appendices projected on each side of the 

 mouth, and used as instruments of prehension ; they are two feet and a half long, and a foot 

 wide. Ventrals broad, short, deeply emarginate and rounded behind; continuous in front 

 with the pectorals. 



Color. Blue black above ; dusky, varied with large opaque white clouds, beneath. 



Length to the base of the tail, 10 feet ; to the end of the tail, 16 feet. Width across the 

 tips of the pectorals, 17 feet. 



This is one of those huge monsters of the deep, which are occasionally captured along our 

 shores. It was first noticed by Catesby (Vol. 1, p. 32), on the coast of Carolina, where it 

 appears to be more frequent than farther north. The next notice is by Dr. Mitchill, cited 

 above, from a specimen captured at the mouth of Delaware bay. Another individual was 

 taken at Savannah, in 1824. Lesueur, who described it anew from the specimen examined 

 by Dr. Mitchill, considered it as identical with the R. giorna of Lacepede. I have carefully 

 compared these descriptions, and find too many striking dissimilarities to enable me to con- 



Fauna — Pakt 4. 48 



