KING OF THE HERRINGS. 
323 
Gymnetrus Banksii, Cuv., Val., 1. c., p. 365; Hancock and 
Embleton, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 2, vol. IV, p. 1, 
tab. I et II; Rich, in Yarr., Brit. Fish., ed. II, Suppl., p. 
27; Gthr ( Regalecus ), 1. c., p. 309; Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., 
lrel, vol. I, p. 220, tab. LXIV; (?) McCoy. Prodr. Zoot. 
Viet., dec. XV, p. 169, tab. 145. 
Ohs. In this genus too, Lutkicn has paved the way for a 
reasonable reduction of the number of species hitherto recognised. 
Still, it is as yet an open question whether the Mediterranean Rerja- 
the characteristic that in its case the body is deepest at the head or 
just behind it. It is a thought which naturally suggests itself, that 
this difference may be explained as a difference of growth — the 
largest specimen described by Valenciennes of the Mediterranean spe- 
cies was 268 cm. in length, and there is no instance of so small a 
specimen of Regalecus glesne. It is also hardly probable that the 
individual variations of this genus are less than those of the preceding 
one 6 . Layard’s c specimen of Gymnetrus capensis d from the Cape of 
Good Hope, a form which GtiNTHER referred to the same species as 
Regalecus gladius, probably measured, when entire, nearly 4 metres 
in length and about 26 % of the distance between the vent and the 
Fig. 87. Regalecus glesne. The figure is partly schematic. About of the natural size. 
lecus gladius a is really a distinct species from the Atlantic Regalecus 
glesne. The only tenable distinction hitherto suggested consists in the 
more elongated body of the former species; and in this genus as in 
the preceding one, the Mediterranean species is said to be marked by 
j gill-opening in depth, the latter measurement even exceeding the 
average depth of Regalecus glesne. According to Valenciennes, Rega- 
lecus gladius is furnished with more than 200 rays in the anterior 
part of the dorsal fin, measured for a distance of 1,678 mm., while 
a Cepola gladius, Walb., Art. Gen. Pise., App., p. 617; Gymnetrus gladius + Gymnetrus telum, Cuv., Val., 1. c., pp. 352 and 361, 
tab. 298—299. 
b In the specimen of Regalecus glesne from Alstahoug (1859 — Bergen Museum), which had probably been 356 — 360 cm. in length 
when perfect, the greatest depth of the body is only slightly more than 1 / I5 of the length of the body, according to Collett, or, according 
to Lilljeborg, than ’/ 14 thereof or about 22 % of the distance between the vent and the gill-opening. The latter measurement agrees closely 
enough with Valenciennes’s figure of Gymnetrus telum. 
c Proc. Zool. Soc. 1868, p. 321. 
d Cuv., Val., 1. c., p. 376. 
