BEAKED SALMON. 
481 
The Beaked Salmon, —Family Gonoreynceidje. 
A third fish of the present section, constituting a family by itself, is the so- 
called beaked salmon ( Gonorhynchus greyi ) from the seas of the Cape, Japan, and 
Australia. Agreeing with the two preceding families in the absence of a fatty fin 
this fish differs in having barbels to the mouth, while in the tail there is no true 
caudal vertebra. Both the head and body are completely covered with scales, of 
which the free edges are spinose ; and the margin of the upper jaw is formed entirely 
by the short premaxillge, which are continued downwards over the maxillae. The 
short dorsal fin is situated far back on the body, above the pelvic pair, the still shorter 
anal having a more posterior position; and the tail-fin is slightly forked. The 
gill-openings are narrow, the air-bladder is wanting, and the stomach simple. 
Measuring from 12 to 18 inches in length, this fish seems to be partty pelagic 
and partly littoral in its habits; being found in New Zealand, where it is known 
as the sand-eel, in bays with a sandy bottom, while elsewhere it has been taken 
in the open sea. In New Zealand its flesh forms an article of food. The family 
is also represented by an extinct genus ( Notogoneu-s ) from the Eocene of the 
United States. 
The Scopeloids, —Family Scopelidaj. 
As an example of an important family of, for the most part, pelagic or deep- 
sea fishes, we select the so-called phosphorescent sardine, Scopelus engraulis, as 
being a member of the typical genus. The members of this family agree with the 
last in having the parietal bones united and no true tail-vertebra, but they may 
be distinguished externally by the absence of barbels and the presence of a small 
fatty fin some distance behind the dorsal, and likewise by the want of spines on 
the scales, when the latter are present; some genera having the body scaled, while 
in others it is naked. The margin of the upper jaw is always constituted solely by 
the premaxillae; the gill-cover may be incompletely developed; the gill-opening is 
wide; false gills are present; but an air-bladder is wanting. The intestine is 
remarkable for its shortness; and the eggs are enclosed in the sacs of the ovaries, 
whence they are extruded by means of ducts. Containing a large number of 
existing genera, the family is likewise represented by several extinct types, the 
earliest of which dates from the Cretaceous of Istria. 
In the typical genus the body is oblong in form and more or less markedly 
compressed, with the investing scales of large size. Along the sides run series of 
phosphorescent spots ; while similar glandular structures may in some species 
occur on the front of the body and on the back of the tail. The cleft of the 
mouth is unusually wide ; the premaxillary bones being long, slender, and tapering, 
and the maxillae well developed. The teeth are villiform, and the eye is relatively 
large. The pelvic fins are inserted just in front of or immediately below the line 
of the foremost rays of the dorsal (which is situated nearly in the middle of the 
length of the body), and are composed of eight rays; the fatty fin is very small; 
the anal is generally long; and the caudal forked. There are from eight to ten rays 
in the branchiostegal membrane. Dr. Gunther writes that “ the fishes of this genus 
are small, of truly pelagic habits, and distributed over all the temperate and 
vol. v .—31 
