578 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
The most successful trawling grounds for scientific purposes were found between 
200 and 400 fathoms along the seaward extensions of the Pailolo and Kaiwi Channels, 
which lie between Maui and Molokai and between Molokai and Oahu. Toward the 
northeast these channels soon open upon a nearly level plateau, 10 to 15 miles in width, 
carrying a depth of about 300 fathoms. The sediments are fine sand and mud, and 
are in certain lines comparatively free from obstructions. At the seaward edge of 
this plateau, however, foul bottom is at once encountered, and a steep and wholly 
impracticable slope leads abruptly down to oceanic depths. For depths of less than 
200 fathoms the richest ground discovered was undoubtedly the inter-island portion 
of the Pailolo Channel, where a bottom of dead shells and corallines proved very 
productive. Off Kahului on Maui, as already stated, and off Honolulu and Waialua 
on Oahu, are gentle sandy slopes where dredging is possible out to 300 fathoms, but 
the inshore portions are comparatively barren. Beyond 400 fathoms no satisfactory 
working grounds could be found in any part of this region. The best that were dis- 
covered lie off the eastern shore of Kauai. Here life was abundant and the forms 
discovered were of extreme interest, but the bottom had a rapid seaward slope and 
was treacherous. By dredging parallel with the shore line, successful hauls were 
occasionally made, and most of our material from depths greater than. 400 fathoms 
came from this locality. The series of shoals to the northwest of the Hawaiian 
group were left practically unexplored. The single trip to Laysan Island was devoted 
largely to hydrographic work; hence a few dredge hauls in the vicinity of Laysan 
and a series near Bird Island represent the meager biological results obtained from 
the western portion of the cruise. No truly bathvbial fishes were secured at Laysan, 
but the reef species and those of the shore platform out to 100 fathoms indicated the 
unbroken extension of the Hawaiian fauna to include these islands and shoals. 
The first contribution to the knowledge of Hawaiian deep-sea fishes appeared in 
1897," being based on the results of 8 dredge-hauls taken by the Albatross in 1891, in 
the Kaiwi Channel. Of the 26 species then secured, all but 5 were described as new. 
The probability entertained at that time that the slopes about the islands would be 
found to contain an assemblage of species largely distinct from those of any other 
region has been fully borne out by more extensive exploration. In the present 
paper there are recorded 111 species living at depths of 100 fathoms or more, and of 
these all are peculiar to the Hawaiian province, so. far as is now known, except the 
10 named below. Squalus mitsuJcurii , Cliimsem purpiorescens, and Antigonia stein- 
dachneri are known from Japan; Synodus Tcaianus and Nannohrachium nigrurn are 
forms occurring in the East Indies; Serrivomer beanii and Gaulolepis longidens are 
supposed to inhabit both coasts of the United States; Antimora microlepis is from 
the Pacific coast of North America; and Neoscopelus microlepidotus and Sternoptyx 
diaphana are species of partly pelagic habit, ranging widely in both Atlantic and 
Pacific. In the case of Squalus , Ohim.sera , and Antimora , it has "been possible to 
make direct comparison of specimens, but with the others mentioned, identification 
is based on comparison with published descriptions and figures only. 
An analysis of the list of species recorded in the present paper shows conclusively 
that the bathybial fishes of Hawaii, like those of its reefs and shores, have been 
a Gilbert, C. H., and Cramer, Frank: Report on the fishes dredged in deep water near the Hawaiian Islands, with' 
descriptions and figures of twenty-three new species. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 19, 1897, pp. 403-435, plates 36-48. 
