152 ACANTHOPTERGYII. 



always found them insipid and anything hut firm. Yarrell remarks that stewing 1 

 is better for this fish than boiling, as they are rather dry and tasteless. 



Diseases. Mr. D ' Urban fonnd adhering to the scales of one several specimens 

 of the Holibnt leech, Entobdella hippoglossi. 



Uses. The "otoliths," or ear stones, are comparatively large in Sciamoids, and 

 were formerly deemed very efficacious against colic, provided they had been 

 received as gifts, as purchased ones were believed to lose their virtue. They were 

 mounted in gold and worn suspended round the neck. The Roman fishermen 

 were accustomed to present the head, as a species of tribute to the three 

 magistrates of Rome who acted as conservators of the city. 



Habitat. Nilsson has recorded its occurrence on the coast of Sweden, in 

 December, 1852, from there it extends to the British Isles, becoming somewhat rare 

 in the Bay of Biscay, but found through the Mediterranean, being common in the 

 Gulf of Gascogne from July until September, but much less frequent towards 

 Italy. It is also present in the Atlantic, round the Cape of Good Hope, and 

 south coast of Australia ; these Antartic examples have been named Scicena 

 antarctica by Castelnau. 



One was captured in Zetland, in November, 1819, endeavouring to 

 escape from a seal (Neill), and a second in the Orkneys by Dr. Duguid 

 in 1852 (W. Baikie). It is often taken along the coasts of Cornwall and 

 Devonshire, mostly during the summer and autumn, and sometimes in 

 considerable numbers. Mr. Holdsworth obtained a fish which he considered 

 this species taken by a seine, at Start Bay, on the south coast of Devonshire 

 in August, 1825 (Pro. Zool. Soc. 1831, p. 112) ; it is probable that the fish 

 weighing 100 lb., taken in the Exe, was also this species (Linn. Trans, xvi, p. 751, 

 Nov. 20th. 1827) and not Umbrina cirrhosa which the Exe example has been 

 supposed to represent in the British Fauna. The chief difficulty is that in the 

 minute book of the Linnean Society it is stated that Mr. Cresswell's fish from the 

 Exe proved to be identical with Sciama cirrhosa of Linnaeus. But as this form 

 only attains 30 or 40 lb. weight in the Mediterranean, and no other instance 

 besides this single 100 lb. fish has been recorded, the drawing to which the 

 name w 7 as given was probably untrustworthy. Parnell (1838) mentions one 

 3^ feet long from the Firth of Forth. In 1841 one was captured at Sherringham, 

 and is now in the Norwich Museum ; another in the autumn of 1843, was taken 

 off Mevagissey, it was 6 feet long and of about 400 lb. weight (R. Couch) ; and in 

 October in the same year one off Margate (Zool., p. 85). In the winter of 1844, 

 another off Fowey. In 1847 a fine one off Craster (Proc. Berwick. Nat. Club, 1867, 

 p. 343) : December 24, 1849, one 5 feet long, from between Redcar and the Tees' 

 mouth (Zool. viii., 1850) : and another in August from Dartmouth. At the end of 

 October, 1850, one upwards of 100 lb. was taken off Brixham (Times, Nov. 4th, 

 1850) : in 1863 one over 5 feet long by trawlers, in Carmarthen Bay, it weighed 

 641b., D. 8/28, A. 8 (Williams, Zool., p. 8771) ; the same year Cornish recorded 

 another from Penzance. July 21st, 1866, Buckland mentions the head of one sent 

 him by Mr. Charles, and he recorded five others that year ; in 1867, one 3 feet 

 long was taken at Hastings : in 1868, on November 22nd, after a rough night, one 

 was driven ashore opposite the Marine Parade at Brighton, it weighed about 

 70 lb. (Brighton Herald, Nov. 28th) : while on August 30th of the same year, 

 another, rather over 5 feet long, and weighing 84 lb., came ashore at Thorpe near 

 Aldborough (Lowe, Fauna of Norfolk). October 3rd, 1872, one was taken at 

 Teignmouth in a pilchard seine, it was 5 feet long, and weighed 741b. (W. 

 D'Urban) ; and in August 30th, 1880, the same author recorded another captured 

 at Beer, off the Devonshire coast (Zool. 1880, p. 449). 



In Ireland, according toDr. Harvey (Cork Fauna), one 6 feet 4 inches in length 

 was captured August 1st, 1840, while basking on the surface of the water opposite 

 the passage into the harbour of Cork. 



The specimen figured is about 21-J- inches in length, it was captured June 

 20th, 1881, in a trammel at Mevagissey and kindly sent me by Mr. Dunn. It 

 attains to at least 6 feet. 



