— 7 — 
sal’ely. The specimen belongs to the interesting family of 
Band-fishes ( Trachypteridce ) which are found in all the 
various seas of the globe, but which, being inhabitants of 
the greatest depths, come but rarely under the observations 
of Zoologists. 
u Their whole organization is adapted for a life under 
great atmospheric pressure, and when they come to the 
surface bv accident, they are either dead or dying, and 
the tissues of every part of their body are so much ex- 
panded or torn, that there is the greatest difficulty in pre- 
venting them from falling to pieces and in preserving 
them. 
u All these deap sea-fishos have a very wide geogra- 
phical range, and flic same species may be found in the 
North and ISouth Atlantic, in the Indian Ocean and in the 
North and South Pacific. Therefore, the occurence of an 
individual at Mauritius where this fish had not been ob- 
served before, does not prove that it is a new species. 
“ The fact is, with our present most imperfect know- 
ledge of the species of this family, and particularly of their 
development, it is impossible to decide whether or not the 
Mauritian fish should lie referred to any of the species in 
our catalogues. It seems that it lacked the ventral fins ; 
if these organs have been really absent, vour fish may be 
the adult of Stylophorus , but as these fins are of a very 
delicate structure and easily lost, 1 think it more likely 
that it is a species of TnichypUirns. 
i: 1 am very glad to sec that the ovaries have been 
preserved, the preparation shows that the ovaries are closed 
sacs in this family. 
‘‘ 1 send you three copies of a paper on Tortoises, one 
