164 
RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 
condition and the appended notes were made while the taxidermists 
were engaged upon their work, no time having to be lost in its 
preparation. It proved to be a female, as with every other 
specimen of Regalecus sexually examined. 
Regalecus glesne, Ascanius. 
D. 340 + ? V. 1. P. 12. 
Height of body 15*46, length of head 20*1 in the total length- 
Eye 5 0 and maxilla 28*5 in the length of the head. Teeth absent- 
The head and body together are much shorter than the tail, being 
contained therein 3*5 times. The gill rakers of the first arch are 
very long, the longest measuring 28 mm.; they are slender and 
tapering and are furnished with short stiff hairs on their inner 
margins ; there are five rakers on the hinder and thirty-four on 
the lower limb — there is also a very small raker between each of 
the larger ones, it may easily be overlooked. A second set occurs 
on the inner side of the arch, these rakers are comparatively 
small and are arranged in three series, the largest not more than 
6 mm. in length. The first series consists of a rather broad 
triangular plate, surmounted by a thickened head which bears a 
number of hairs. The second series is alternate with the first one, 
and the rakers are similar, but only half their size. The third 
series is formed of rakers less than half the size of those of the 
second series, they occur between each of the others and are there- 
fore twice as numerous, these are comparable with the small 
alternate rakers described on the outer set of the first arch. 
The rakers on the other arches (there are four and a half in 
all) are very small and are similar to the inner set of the first 
arch. The tail is possibly incomplete, but I do not think very 
much has been lost, the membrane extends to its tip. Of the 
cephalic rays the first is the only one now perfect, it is very stout 
basally but taper3 to a thread, it measures two and a quarter 
times the length of the head ; the four following are slender, close 
together but are broken off at about one-third the length of the 
first one, the others are broken short, all were connected by 
membrane. The dorsal fin is tolerably perfect but broken away 
at intervals, its height is one-half more than the diameter of the 
eye. The only pectoral fin remaining is broken, but it has not 
the vertical aspect ascribed to some forms, and exhibits the bases 
of twelve rays. One of the ventral filaments is complete and 
extends nearly to the vent, it terminates in a fleshy tag. The 
lateral line arises above the operculum, passes obliquely down- 
wards and runs along the lower half of the body at about one-fourth 
its height from the ventral surface. 
The skin is very thin and is marked by five longitudinal rows 
of tubercles, where these tubercles exist the skin is attached to 
