FISHES NEW TO OR RARE IN THE FIRTH OF FORTH 27 



the capture of a fine example of this fish, which is also known 

 as the Norwegian Topknot, ten miles south-east of the Carr 

 Lightship, on the 6th of April 1894. This specimen is a 

 female developing ovaries, and measures 3.36 inches, or 85 

 mm., in length. Professor M'Intosh gives a full description 

 of the specimen, and a coloured drawing and other figures 

 (Plate IV. Figs. 5, 6, and 7). This species is not only an 

 addition to the fauna of the Firth of Forth, but, I believe, to 

 the fauna of the British waters of the North Sea. Couch in 

 his " British Fishes" (vol. iii. p. 175, Plate CLXVII.) records 

 and figures the first British specimen from the Bristol Channel; 

 but this was considered by Dr. Day to be an example of 

 Rhombus unimaculatus, or Bloch's Topknot, and hence the 

 species has no place in his work on " British and Irish Fishes." 

 Dr. Gunther obtained a specimen off the Shetlands in 1868 ; 

 and also records a third British specimen from Lamlash Bay, 

 and a fourth in Kilbrennan Sound, in the " Proceedings of 

 the Royal Society of Edinburgh" (vol. xv. p. 217, 1888). 

 Mr. Holt obtained a specimen in Donegal Bay in i 891, as re- 

 corded in the " Proceedings of the Royal Dublin Society " 

 (2), vii. p. 218. Finally, we have the Forth specimen, which 

 concludes the list of the known British occurrences of this 

 species. 



The range of this fish is given by Professor Smitt 

 ("Scandinavian Fishes," part i. p. 455, 1894) as extending 

 from the Lofoden Islands to the Bristol Channel. 



NEROPHIS LUMBRICIFORMIS (Linn}. Worm Pipe-fish. 



On the 2Oth of August 1894 I captured a specimen of 

 this little fish under a stone between tide-marks at North 

 Berwick. It was 4.12 inches in length, and weighed .35 

 gramme = . i 2 oz. I have been unable to find any previous 

 record of the occurrence of this species in the Firth, and 

 there seems to be little doubt that it is here recorded for 

 the first time for the waters of the Forth. 



The two following fishes are neither new nor rare in the 

 Firth of Forth, but are recorded as remarkably fine examples 

 of their respective species : 



