290 Transactions. — Zoology. 
In the Moeraki specimen the seventh and the ninth rays are perfect (pl. 
xxiii., fig. 1, r7, r9): the seventh is 1 foot 5:5 inches long, the ninth 1 foot 
9:5 inches. Both taper gradually to the distal end and terminate in a some- 
what irregularly lanceolate or spear-head shaped lobe about 1 inch long by 
rather less than half an inch wide (pl. xxiii., fig. 2). This lobe is formed by 
an expansion of the cutaneous covering of the bony ray, and is considerably 
thickened and corrugated on the surface. The bony ray also tapers gradu- 
ally to its extremity and ends in a very fine point about } inch from the 
end of the cutaneous lobe. 
The relative thickness of the spines corresponds very well with Hancock 
and Embleton’s description quoted above: the first ray is about j inch 
thick at the base, the second to the fifth about +; inch; the sixth and 
seventh a little more than 4 inch; from the eighth to the fifteenth the 
diameter gradually decreases. The first four, also, are closer together than 
the rest. 
The first five spines, although broken, have evidently not lost much of 
their length. The first is 1 foot 5-5 inches long, the second a little less, the 
third, fourth, and fifth about 13 inches; all the rest are broken off short. 
_ All the rays are connected by membrane with one another, and the last 
is similarly connected with the first ray of the so-called second dorsal, so 
that, as in some other specimens described, the two dorsals are continuous. 
The membrane uniting the first four rays extends to a distance of 9 inches 
from the base, and its edges do not appear to be perfect. In the 7th 
(perfect) ray (pl. xxiii., fig. 2) the terminal lobe is continued proximalwards 
by a thin membranous expansion along the posterior edge. The border of 
this expansion is evidently unbroken to a distance of 9 inches from the ex- 
tremity, and I think it may be assumed that, for the rest of its extent, this 
| membrane extended to the next ray. All the rays are quite smooth, pre- 
senting no trace of the spines or hooks described in some other specimens. 
My specimen would therefore seem to show that the rays of the crest, or 
so-called first dorsal fin, are united for about the proximal half of their 
length by membrane, that for the rest of their extent they are fringed 
posteriorly by membrane, and that they terminate in somewhat thickened 
lanceolate expansions. I have no means of determining whether all termi- 
nate in the same way, or whether, as in Cuvier’s figure of 
fig. 6), some of them simply taper to a point. One would ali 
to know certainly whether Cuvier's figure is an exact representation 
of the specimen for which it was taken, or whether it is in any 
way ‘restored.’ The extreme brittleness of the rays of the crest 
would seem to render the capture of an absolutely uninjured specimen 
extremely improbable; and it is therefore not unlikely that the figure in 
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