522 ' FISHES. 



extraordinary development of fin rays observed in the whole 

 class of fishes, some of them being several times longer than 

 the body, and provided with lappet-Kke dilatations. There is 

 no doubt that fishes with such delicate appendages are bred 

 and live in depths where the water is absolutely quiet, as a 

 sojourn in the disturbed water of the surface would deprive 

 them at once of organs which must be of some utility for 

 their preservation. 



Eibbon-fishes are divided into three genera : — 



Teachypteeus. — In which the ventral rays are well deve- 

 loped, and composed of several more or less branched rays. 

 Specimens of this genus have been taken in the Mediter- 

 ranean, Atlantic, at Mauritius, and in the Eastern Pacific. 

 The " Deal-fish" {T. arcticus) is often met with ia the North 

 Atlantic, and specimens are generally found after the equi- 

 noctial gales on the coasts of the Orkneys and North Britain. 



Stylophoeus. — Without ventrals, and with the tail termin- 

 ating in an exceedingly long cord-like appendage. Known 

 from one specimen only, found at the beginning of this cen- 

 tury between Cuba and Martinique. It is eleven inches long, 

 and preserved in the Museum of the Eoyal College of Sur- 

 geons in London. 



Bcgalecus. — Each ventral fin is reduced to a long filament, 

 dilated at the extremity ; caudal fin rudimentary or absent. 

 These are the largest of all Eibbon-fishes, specimens being on 

 record the length of which exceeded twenty feet. They have 

 been taken .in the Mediterranean, North and South Atlantic, 

 Indian Ocean, and on the coast of New Zealand. They are 

 frequently called " Kings of the herrings," from the erroneous 

 notion that they accompany the shoals of herrings ; or " Oar- 

 fishes," from their two ventral fins, which have a dilatation 

 at their extremity not unlike the blade of an oar. One or 

 more species {B. lanhsii) are sometimes found on the British 



