542 FUNAFUTI ATOLL. 



the Mediterranean, occurs about Sicily ; here it is so rare at the 

 present time that it does not appear to have a common name 

 among the fishermen, though Canestrini says that its flesh is 

 delicious. Bonaparte refers to it as JRovetto, and the fishermen of 

 Catania call it Pesci Ruvetto. Dr. Anastasio Cocco first described 

 it from Messina. Giglioli has observed it at Genoa, Naples, 

 Palermo, Malta, and Spalato (Dalmatia) and at Nice. It was 

 subsequently found by Lowe at Madeira, and by Webb and 

 Berthelot at the Canaries. It occurs rarely on the Portuguese 

 coast, where it is called Escolar, and doubtless also in Spanish 

 waters. About the Canaries the fish is known as the Escolar, a 

 name which is said to be applied to members of the family Gadidce 

 by Spanish fishermen. The Escolar occurs in great schools about 

 the Canaries in winter, and the fishermen capture it with hook 

 and line at a depth of a hundred fathoms or less, and its flesh is 

 highly prized. Cantraine states that it is taken at considerable 

 depths about Malta. Lowe found it at Madeira at depths as 

 great as 300 and 400 fathoms. It was found by Poey in the 

 waters of Cuba before 1854. Poey tells us that it is rarely seen 

 in the markets because of the difficulty attending its capture, for 

 it can be caught only at a depth of 300 fathoms on dark nights 

 in September and the early part of October. Poey further states 

 that when one of these fishes is brought to the surface it appears 

 to be surrounded by a globe of phosphorescent light. The Cuban 

 fishermen go "a scholaring " (a escolarear) after the fishing for 

 the Speartish (Tetrapturus) has ceased, and before that for the 

 Red Snapper (Lutjanus aya) begins. According to Canestrini it 

 grows to the weight of 100 pounds in Sicilian waters." 



Owing to mutilation the relative proportions of our specimen 

 cannot be well ascertained, the following description is however not 

 affected, excepting where the length of the body is concerned. 

 As the body has been examined with the sawn vertebrae in 

 proximity, such error as would be made in measuring the shrunken 

 skin is avoided. 



B. VII. D. XV. 18 + 2 ; A. 17 + 2 ; P. 14 ; V. I. 5 ; C. 9 + 8 ; 

 L. lat. 94. L. tr. 14 + 28. 



Length of head 3*7, height of body 4'6 in the total length, 

 (caudal excluded). Eye large, nearly round \ 4-8 in the length of 

 the head; interorbital space slightly convex, 3 '7 in the head: 

 snout 3-0 in the same. Anterior nostril vertically oval, situated 

 one half nearer the eye than its distance from the end of the snout ; 

 posterior nostril, a deep vertical slit with a large valvular flap in 

 front, one half nearer the eye than its distance from the anterior 

 nostril. Two weak flat spines on the opercle of which the lower is 

 the longer ; at the angle of the preopercle are a number of minute 

 soft denticulations. The maxilla measures half the length of the 



