127 
CORNISH CENTROLOPHUS. 
Crntrolophus Britannicus, Gunther; Cat. Br. Museum, vol. ii, 
p. 402, quoting Annals and Maga- 
zine of Natural Histor~, 186i>, p. 
46 . 
In the middle of February, 1859, this fish was thrown on 
shore by stormy weather not far from Looe, and the specimen 
was immediately conveyed to me by the kindness of the late 
W. H. Box, Esq., of that town. After making a drawing, from 
which our figure is copied, and also a description, it was 
committed to the care of Mr. William Laughrin, A.L.S., of 
Polperro, for preservation; and when set up, it was sent to 
the British Museum, at the time when Dr. Gunther was 
engaged in forming the new and extensive catalogue of fishes 
contained in the national collection. I had easily ascertained 
that this fish was new to British natural history, but it remained 
for the discrimination of Dr. Gunther to discover that it differed 
from every species hitherto known to science. The natural 
habits of so uncommon a fish must of course be unknown; 
but from its rarity we may judge that it keeps far from land, 
and probably in the deeper regions of the ocean. 
In length this fish measured one foot and seven inches; the 
general form compressed, thin at the back, with a more slender 
firm ridge also from the throat to the vent, at which it is five 
inches in depth. The vent at about the middle of the body, 
the opening compressed. The head to the hinder gill-cover is 
short; forehead rounded, both across and from above the mouth; 
and the back rising from the head to the origin of the dorsal fin. 
Eye large, perpendicularly oval, and with a singular aspect, as if 
looking towards the front; its centre an inch from the snout; 
several ducts round it on a diverging form. Nostrils double, 
close together, nearer the Lp, large, and open. Under jaw a 
