288 NATUKAL HISTORY OF 



on the tliroat of a Gadoid fish at the Cape of Good Hope 

 during the voyage of the " Freycinet," and described by Quoy 

 and Gaimard under the name of " Chondracanthe lisse." A 

 second species has been more recently described by Kroyer, 

 from the lump-fish {Cydopterus lumpus) of the northern hemi- 

 sphere, under the name of Lesteira lumpi ; and this one taken 

 at the Gallegos river appears to constitute the type of a third, 

 of which I have found no description, although specimens of 

 it have existed for many years in the Museum of the Eoyal 

 College of Surgeons. Of the history of these examples, Pro- 

 fessor Flower, who had the kindness to show them to me, knows 

 nothing ; but it is possible that they may have been procured 

 on one of the earlier South American surveys, as I find that 

 Captain King, in the account of his visit to the Gallegos river, 

 makes mention of large fish, regarded by him as a species of 

 Ophidium, and called ling by his ship's company, which had 

 "two parasitical animals attached " to them — one a " CymotJioa,'' 

 probably Pterelas magnijicus, Dana ; and " the other a species 

 of Lerncea, which had so securely attached itself under the 

 skin, as not to be removed without cutting off a piece of the 

 flesh with it." This latter, I think it very probable, was the 

 Sphyrion met with by us ; as, if my memory does not play me 

 false, other examples obtained about a month later were 

 attached alike to the gills and to the skin of their host. 

 Acting on the belief that this Sphyrion is an undescribed 

 species, and first met with by Captain King, I have named it 

 S. Kingii, in honour of that excellent observer. 



We weighed soon after we got on board, and, returning 

 southwards to the Strait, anchored under Dungeness. The 

 morning of the 25th, Christmas day, was tolerably fine, but 

 there was a very threatening barometer (28°80'56'''.) An 

 officer, who had been left with his boat's crew at Cape Posses- 



