8 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



THE FISHES OF THE FIRTH OF FORTH AND 

 ITS TRIBUTARIES: SPECIES ADDED SINCE 

 DR. PARNELL'S 'ESSAY' OF 1837. 



By WILLIAM EAGLE CLARKE, F.L.S. 



DR. PARNELL'S Prize Essay ' On the Natural and Economi- 

 cal History of the Fishes, Marine, Fluviatile, and Lacustrine, 

 of the River District of the Firth of Forth ' was contributed 

 to the " Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History Society " 

 in the year 1837, and forms the bulk (pp. 161-520, and pis. 

 xviii.-lxiv.) of vol. vii. of the series published in 1838. 



It remains to this day one of the most important con- 

 tributions to British faunal Ichthyology. Even in other 

 than its local aspects it still possesses considerable value, 

 for Dr. Parnell's careful original descriptions of numerous 

 species may yet be consulted with advantage. 



Since Parnell's day no one seems to have made a special 

 study of the Fishes of the Forth. This is greatly to be 

 regretted, for much remains to be accomplished. It is true 

 that the Fishery Board for Scotland has conducted a series of 

 most valuable and interesting investigations and experiments 

 on the Forth and its Fishes ; but these have naturally been 

 chiefly made in the furtherance of their economic aspects, 

 though the purely faunal side has not been neglected, and 

 that such is the case will be manifest in what follows. 



The object of this contribution is to gather together the 

 widely-scattered records of the past sixty years which relate 

 to such species as are additions to Dr. Parnell's List. In pre- 

 paring this paper I have thought it best to give the details 

 relating to the various occurrences as concisely as possible, 

 and to give full references for all the published records. 



I have been fortunate enough to obtain privately some 

 additional information of importance, and in this connection 

 I have to tender my thanks and acknowledgments to my 

 friends Mr. Thomas Scott, Naturalist to the Fishery Board 

 for Scotland, and Mr. William Evans. No doubt some 

 records have escaped me, and a notice of such would form 

 a welcome contribution to this magazine. It was not my 



