66 " THETIS " SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



water. When brought to the surface the membranes about the 

 eyes were inflated and the stomach had been forced into the mouth, 

 a condition common to fishes taken from considerable depths. 



The claims of Hoplostethus to generic separation from Trachich- 

 thys are based mainly on the absence of vomerine teeth ; in 

 T. trailli the patch could be covered by a pin's head. Goode 

 and Bean* have made the distinction apparently greater by 

 erroneously crediting Trachichthys with but two instead of three 

 anal spines. 



Family BERYCID^. 



BERYX, Cuvier. 



BERYX AFFINIS, Giinther. 



Nannygai. 



Beryx affinis,Qtm\th., Cat. Fish., Brit. Mus., i., 1859, p. 13; Tenison 

 Woods, Fish., N.S. Wales, 1882, p. 51, pi xv. 



Stations 7, 11, 12, 13, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 35, 42, 48. 



Goode and Bean wiite :t ^^ Beryx lineatus and B. a finis of 

 Giinther belong to the Australian fauna, and are said to occur in 

 water of no very considerable depth." In what shallow water B. 

 nffinis may on occasions be taken, however, would be scarcely 

 imagined. Some data on this subject may therefore be of interest. 



During the expedition we did not obtain it in less than 16-19 

 fathoms (Station 23), but it is commonly caught off the coast by 

 the line fishermen in 10-12 fathoms. While trawling in Port 

 Jackson itself with the Museum gear, we have secured it in 7 or 8 

 fathoms, at which depth it has also been taken on the line, so that 

 it is quite a surface species. 



We have no information as to the depths to which it may 

 descend. It was. taken by us freely at 80 fathoms and doubtless 

 inhabits the deeper water between our coast and New Zealand, 

 where it also occurs, thence ranging to Tasmania. 



While trawling on sandy bottom we obtained only small 

 examples, but when the soundings showed rock we netted larger 

 individuals. The northern range of this species on our coast is 

 unknown ; we failed to secure it northward of Newcastle Bight. 



* Goode and Bean — Oceanic Ichth., Sp. Bull. U.8. Nat. Mus., 1895, 



p. 187. 

 t Goode and Boan — lor. ciL, p. 175. 



