470 GYMNODONTID.E. 



difference between the fish he examined and the described 

 characters of the true mola, if any had existed ; and this fish 

 being probably very old, as well as very large, was the more 

 likely to have assumed the elongated appearance of this se- 

 cond species. 



The oblong Sun-fish seems to be much more rare than 

 that last figured. Dr. Borlase appears to be the first and 

 almost the only English writer who has seen and described it. 

 In his Natural History of Cornwall, he speaks of it under 

 the title of the Sun-fish from Mount's Bay, after having 

 described and figured the Short Sun-fish, and mentions that 

 a specimen of this second species was taken at Plymouth in 

 1734- that weighed five hundred pounds. 



Mr. Donovan, in his Natural History of British Fishes, 

 says, " We have seen the dried skin of this species, the 

 animal of which, when living, weighed between two and 

 three hundred pounds. Our figure is taken from a small 

 specimen, obtained in a recent state, in one of our fishing 

 excursions on the Bristol Channel. This fish subsists on 

 worms of the testaceous and other tribes, small crabs, &c. 

 fragments of these being found on dissection in the stomach." 



Since the publication of the first edition of this work, a fish 

 of this rare species wandered into the lock of the newly-made 

 canal at a short distance west of Fowey, and was carefully 

 skinned and preserved to be presented to the Royal Cornwall 

 Museum. A description by Mr. Couch, published in the 

 sixth volume of the Annals of Natural History, is as follows : 

 " The length twenty-two inches ; depth of body over the 

 side eleven inches and a half; from the snout to the eye two 

 inches and three quarters ; to the origin of the pectoral fin 

 eight inches and a half; length of pectoral fin four inches and 

 a half; width of caudal fin one inch and a half; dorsal and 

 anal fins each about six inches long." 



Never having seen a specimen of this fish, the figure here 



