342 DEEP SEA FISHES. 



theory of such a passage in comparatively recent times, since its relationships 

 witli species from the Straits of Magellan and from Japan are closer than 

 with those at present known to inhabit the Atlantic. As regards the theory 

 of a bipolar distribution its evidence is entirely negative. 



Mtxine. 



Myxina Linn^, 1754, Mus. Ad. FriJ., I, 91. 

 Myxine Liune, 1758, Systema, od. 10, I, 650. 



For present purposes a complete synonymy of genus and species is 

 luinecessary ; a few of the more important items in their history will suffice. 

 The first nnquestioned notice of a member of the genus is that of Kalm, 



1753, Resa, I, 100, who writes of some peculiarities of a species, lilvely to 

 have been M. ghttinosa, under the name o£ PiJmioi or Pilor, recognizing it 

 as a fish related to Petromyzon. Mi/xina glutlnosa was named by Linne, 



1754, Mus. Ad. Frid., I, 91, PI. 8, fig. 4, and was placed among the worms, 

 where it was kept in the tenth and the subsequent editions of the Systema 

 (the orthography of Myxina being changed to Myxine), also in the works of 

 Gmelin and others of his follower.s. Bloch, 1795, in Part XII. of his great 

 work, p. 67, Plate 413, definitely places the animal among the fishes, but 

 gave it a name of his own, Gash'obranchus coccus. His description and 

 figures give a very fair idea of the creature and of its structure. By far 

 the most important works published on the subject are the classic essays 

 of Johannes Miiller, 1835 to 1845, which make up his " Vergleichende 

 Anatomie der Myxinoiden, der Cyclostomen mit durchbohrtem Gaumen." 

 Some doubtful information, possibly in part to be referred to Myxine, con- 

 cerning a fish of the Straits of Magellan was derived from Commerson and 

 published by La Cepede. The matter, however, must always remain 

 conjectural since mucosity, roundness and diameter in an individual do 

 not sufficiently establish either genus or species, and the more important 

 particulars given, the entire absence of fins and an almost cylindrical tail, 

 can be applied to none of the Myxinoids with which we are acquainted at 

 the present time. The following are the particulars noted by La Cepede, 

 1803, Poiss., v., 652: "Point de nageoires pectorales ; point d'apparence 

 d'autres nageoires; le corps et la queue presque cylindriques; la surface 

 de I'animal repandant, en tres-grande abondance, une humeur laiteuse et 

 gluante." " Murcenollenna olivacca. La couleur generale olivatre et sans 

 taches; Ic ventre blanchatre." "II parvient a la lon;,^ueur d'un demi-metre. 



