I need not enlarge upon the speculations as to the cause of its rare occurrence; but with regard to the difficulties in securing a perfect specimen I should say they arise from two causes—first, and mainly, to the peculiarity of its structure and its extreme fragility; secondly, to the avidity with which sharks and other voracious fish appear to attack it. With regard to the first, by reference to the drawing (Plate XX.) one sees at a glance that it would be impossible for a fish with such peculiar long slender ventral fins to escape damage in shallow water, even if they were not—as they are—very brittle in texture. The same remark applies in a less degree to the elegant crest of the dorsal fin. The body of the fish itself is extremely fragile—so much so that it usually breaks into two or more pieces whilst being hauled into a boat. It may perhaps be interesting to some of those present if I mention a few facts about the genus before I proceed to describe the present example. In vol. xvi. of the “Transactions,” p. 284, there is an interesting article by Professor T. Jeffery Parker, B.Sc., on a specimen obtained at Moeraki, Otago. In it he states that Günther (the great authority on fishes) gives sixteen as the total number of captures in England from 1759 to 1878, or considerably over a hundred years. Of these, eleven are assigned to one species—R. banksii. In New Zealand a specimen was obtained in Nelson in the year 1860, and described by Mr. W. T. L. Travers, but not at all clearly enough to identify the species. Another was caught at New Brighton, near Christchurch, in 1876, and described by Dr. von Haast, and made by him the type of a new species. A third at Little Waimangaroa, South Island: of this no exact description is recorded. A fourth is said to have been cast ashore at Moeraki in 1881; a fifth, the one most fully and carefully described by Professor Parker; also a sixth was stranded in Otago Harbour, 3rd June, 1887, of which Professor Parker, in vol. xx. of the “Transactions,” gives a detailed and very full description. The present example would thus appear to be the seventh recorded specimen captured in New Zealand. All the species of Regalecus are distinguished by their great length in proportion to their height and thickness, most of them being from 8ft. to 18ft. long, 6in. to 15in. high, and not more than 2in. to 3in. thick. The number of rays in the dorsal fin is very considerable, varying from 134 in R. glesne to 406 in R. grillii. Of these from 8 to 15 of the anterior rays are elongated into a beautiful crest. There are a variety of descriptions of this crest, facts and imagination appearing to be woven together. The most