Fishes Killed by 1950 Eruption — Gosline et al. 
27 
seem to be much richer than the number of 
individuals might indicate. For example^ each 
of the five brotulid specimens represents a 
different species. Such a representation indi- 
cates the variety of fish life that must exist 
in the deeper waters around Hawaii. Another 
piece of evidence bears on this same point. 
In 1922 Jordan reported on seven species 
collected from the sea around the point of 
entry of the 1919 lava flow (Fig. 1), six of 
which he described as new. Of these seven 
species, at least three and probably six were 
not taken by us. 
There appear to be only two extensive re- 
ports on the deep-water fishes of the Central 
Pacific (Gilbert and Cramer, 1896; Gilbert, 
1905). Both of these are based on dredge 
hauls made by the ” Albatross” in Hawaiian 
waters. In the later paper, which summarizes 
the results, Gilbert recognizes 111 species 
taken below the 100-fathom line. Since 1905 
occasional deep-water forms, mostly taken 
by fishermen, have been added to the Ha- 
waiian fauna from time to time. The only 
previous paper based on Hawaiian fishes 
killed by a lava flow is that by Jordan (1922) 
mentioned above. 
After the "Albatross” material, the 1950 
lava-flow collections constitute the most im- 
portant deep-water fish material yet taken in 
the Central Pacific. Their value is enhanced 
by the fact that, though there is some overlap, 
the 1950 collections by no means duplicate 
those taken by the "Albatross.” For example, 
we took five species of brotulids whereas 
Gilbert did not record any; conversely, in 
another bottom-fish group— the flatfishes — 
Gilbert reported 13 species and we did not 
take any. Such examples, though extreme, 
again indicate the tremendous size of the 
fauna from which our samples were drawn. 
It is planned to publish reports on the va- 
rious groups in our collections in this journal 
as they are completed. The section on bro- 
tulids has been finished and appears elsewhere 
in this issue. Specimens of certain groups have 
been sent out to be worked up by others: 
the zeoids by Dr. George Myers, the mycto- 
phids and gonostomatids by Dr. R. L. Bolin, 
both of Stanford University, and the sterno- 
ptychids by Miss Janet Haig, of the Allan 
Hancock Foundation. 
For constructive criticism and help in pre- 
paring the present paper we wish to thank 
Dr. R. L. Bolin, Dr. C. K. Wentworth, Mr. 
T. Cromwell, and various members of the 
University of Hawaii faculty. 
REFERENCES 
Finch, R. H., and G. A. Macdonald. 1950. 
The June 1950 eruption of Mauria Loa. 
Part 1. Narrative of the eruption. The Vol- 
cano Letter (Honolulu) 508: 1-11. 
Gilbert, C. H. 1905. The aquatic resources 
of the Hawaiian Islands. Part II. Section 
II. The deep-sea fishes. JJ. S. Fish Comm., 
BuL for 1903 , 23(2): i-xi, 577-713, pis. 
66 - 101 . 
and F. Cramer. 1896. Report on the 
fishes dredged in deep water near the Ha- 
waiian Islands, with descriptions and fig- 
ures of twenty-three new species. U. S. Natl. 
Mas., Proc. 19: 403-435, pis. 36-48. 
Jordan, D. S. 1922. Description of deep-sea 
fishes from the coast of Hawaii, killed by 
a lava flow from Mauna Loa. U. S. Natl. 
Mus., Proc. 59: 643-656. 
Macdonald, G. A., and R. H. Finch. 1950. 
The June 1950 eruption of Mauna Loa. 
Part IL Special features. The Volcano Letter 
(Honolulu) 509: 1-6. 
