116 
PISCES. 
waters of the Pacific Ocean, it being plentifully represented in other 
tropical and subtropical seas, and especially so in the Indian Ocean and 
Archipelago. From Australia, only two or three species are known, 
whilst there is not a single instance of any occurring in Polynesia ; the 
author is inclined to attribute this to a preference for the neighbourhood 
of the mouth of rivers or of great beds of seaweed, rather than to coral- 
bottomed waters, the Red Sea being equally destitute of members of 
this family. He adds, however, that the great European Scicena aquila^ 
which goes round the Cape of Good Hope and reaches the coasts of 
Australia, may possibly hereafter be occasionally found within the limits 
of the Polynesian seas. J. Mus. Godeffr. ix. p. 105. 
Scicena margaritifera^ sp. n., A. Haly, Ann. N. H. (4) xv. p. 269, Port 
Natal. 
Corvina {Homoprion) agassizi, sp. n., Steindachner, SB. Ak. Wien, Ixxi. 
p. 468, Callao. 
Genyanemus peruanus, p. 471, and G. fasciatus, p. 478, Bay of Panama ; 
G, brasiliensisj p. 476, Para, Santos. Id, 1. c., spp. nn. 
XlPHIIDJl. 
Giinther has not hitherto received any specimens of this family from 
Polynesia, their great size and strength being no doubt obstacles to their 
capture ; but their existence in that portion of the Pacific is attested on 
the authority of the Rev. Wyatt Gill, who states that the young sword- 
fish are there captured easily in strong nets, individuals of six feet in 
length, the largest taken being caught with a hook baited with small 
fish. Larger ones, of ten or twelve feet long, are the terror of fishermen, 
and many instances of wounds inflicted by them on the natives are 
recorded. On account of the limited number of specimens accessible for 
study at present, the determination of the specjes is somewhat uncertain. 
Examples with low dorsal fin, the anterior rays of which are alone 
elevated, and others with the entire fin uniformly elevated, are known ; 
it is probable that this fin is used as a sail while the fish lies drifting on 
the surface of the water. J. Mus. Godeffr. ix. p. 105. 
Histiophorus. On the species of this genus, with particular description 
of H. orientalis, Schl., from a skeleton in the Copenhagen Museum ; 
Liitken, Vid. Medd. 1875, pi. iii. figs. a-g. 
Tkiohiuridj:. 
Gempylus serpens^ Sol., with which G. coluber ^ C. V., and Lemnisoma 
thyrsitoidesj Less., are identical, is found at the Society and Sandwich 
Islands as well as at the Canaries and Antilles ; being a deep-sea fish, it 
affords another confirmation of the principle that depth is associated 
with the widest possible range. Gunther, J. Mus. Godeffr. ix. p. 10i>, 
pi. Ixviii. fig. B. 
The same remarks apply equally to Thyrsites pronietheus, C. V., now 
found to be a Pacific as well as an Atlantic species, and Gunther is 
