62  Ayres's Description of a New Genus of Fishes. 
the line of the intestinal canal. In its anterior portion it is 
about half an inch in width. It tapers gradually for nearly 
half its length, till it is little more than one-tenth of an inch 
wide, which breadth it retains, scarcely diminished, almost to 
its termination. The inferior ovary presents anteriorly a 
broad, rounded lobe. It commences on the left side, near the 
upper part of the abdomen, above all the other organs except 
the kidneys. It passes downward and turns inward till it is 
on the medial line of the abdomen, where it is below all the 
other organs. It is here about three-fourths of an inch in 
width. It is contracted very abruptly till it is narrower than 
the superior at the same point, and tapers then backward like 
the other. The two ovaries are so united at the point where 
their narrowing ceases, that the posterior portions seem like 
divisions of one organ. 
The gall-bladder is situated on the right side, beneath the 
ovary, and is about an inch and two-tenths in length, taper- 
ing to a point posteriorly. Its communication with the ali- 
mentary canal cannot be traced without closer examination 
than we are allowed to make. 
The kidneys are very slender, as long as the abdomen. 
An air-bladder we do not find. 
With our present opportunities we can trace the history of 
this singular fish no further. Of its habits we of course know 
nothing. It belongs to the deep water, and is of slow mo- 
tion ; all beyond this is mere conjecture. We can but lanient 
that so many points in its structure are left in obscurity, and 
trust that the discovery of other specimens may enable future 
observers to make that plain which is now uncertain. Still, 
enough has been given to show that this species differs widely 
and most remarkably from every other known. The propri- 
ety of establishing a new genus for its reception can scarcely 
be questioned. Instead of being compelled to compare it 
with nearly allied genera, and to state the characters in which 
it differs from them, a much greater difficulty in this case is to 
