PETROMYZID.E. 



tory results. My friend, Mr. Edward Forbes, told me that 

 he had obtained two specimens. These were dredged up by 

 himself from a sandbank in deep water on the east coast of 

 the Isle of Man ; they were extremely active, and on super- 

 ficial examination resembled small Sand-eels. With his cha- 

 racteristic liberality, he placed these two specimens in the 

 hands of Mr. John Goodsir, Conservator of the Museums 

 of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh, with a re- 

 quest that he would employ them for the purpose of drawing 

 up a detailed account of the animal. This account, forming 

 an elaborate anatomical paper, is published in the fifteenth. 

 volume of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edin- 

 burgh, to be hereafter referred to. 



Finding that I had originally misunderstood some of the 

 circumstances connected with the capture of the first fish by 

 Mr. Couch, I here insert with pleasure Mr. Couch's own 

 statement, as now published in his Fauna of Cornwall, p. 54. 

 " When alive, this fish had a very evident, though diapho- 

 nous fin, extending from near the snout, round the extre- 

 mity of the tail, which it encircled in the manner of the same 

 organ in the Eel, and terminating at the vent ; and the ap- 

 pearance in the engraving is probably owing to the influence 

 of the preserving liquor, which has caused the membrane to 

 contract. The rays of this fin are arched transversely, in a 

 very singular manner. The specimen was not found in a 

 pool, but lay buried in a small quantity of sand, at about 

 fifty feet from the receding tide ; and on turning over a small 

 flat stone that was on the sand, the tail of the fish appeared 

 exposed. When moved it exhibited signs of great activity, 

 so that the head could not readily be distinguished from 

 the tail ; and as there can be no doubt that the fish had 

 sought the shelter of the sand in which it was found, there 

 is little question that such is its usual habitation : a circum- 

 stance still more probable by its want of eyes. It was 



