THE BLACK SEA-BREAM IN THE FIRTH OF FORTH 149 



its greatest depth about 5-!- inches ; so that it was clearly a 

 full-grown specimen. Its general colour was silvery-grey, 

 darker above and paler beneath, very much the same as in a 

 salmon. 



The species is not included in Parnell's well-known 

 Essay on the Fishes of the Firth of Forth, published in 

 1837; but in Giinther's Catalogue of the Fishes in the 

 British Museum, a specimen from the Parnell collection 

 from the Firth of Forth, is mentioned. When at the 

 British Museum a few weeks ago, Mr. Eagle Clarke had, 

 through the courtesy of Mr. Boulenger, an opportunity of 



seeing this specimen, which he tells me is labelled simply 

 " Firth of Forth ; presented by Dr. R. Parnell, January 4, 

 1839." It is about 15 ins. in length, and I think we may 

 assume that it was captured in 1838. The example I now 

 have the pleasure of recording would thus appear to be but 

 the second that has been obtained in the Firth, and the first 

 to which a precise locality and date can be assigned. 



The species, which is abundant in the Mediterranean 

 and adjacent parts of the North Atlantic, occurs, according 

 to Day's " British Fishes," not infrequently along the west 

 and south coasts of England, but becomes rare in the North 

 Sea, where it has, however, been met with off the north of 



