

THE OAR-FISH, OR KING OF THE HERRINGS 



153 



north-east coast of England. Eleven or twelve, it would 

 appear, have been obtained in Scottish waters, but the 

 present is the first authentic example from 

 the Firth of Forth. The Scottish records 

 given in Day's "British Fishes" (1884) are as 

 follows : 



One 12 ft. 9 in. long, exclusive of head, 

 which was gone, Moray Firth, i 2th November 

 1821 (not 1812); cf. Fleming's " Brit. Anim." 

 p. 205. 



One 1 2 ft., Crovie, near Macduff, March 

 1844. 



One ii ft. ic in., Bay of Cromarty, i 7th 

 September 1851. 



One 15^- ft., cast ashore at Keiss, near 

 Wick, 1 4th December 1853 (the date is taken 

 from the minute-book of the Royal Physical 

 Society). 



One 12^ ft., came ashore alive at Dunnet 

 Bay, Caithness, July 1877. 



One 12 ft. 9 in., found dead, but quite 

 fresh, on sands at the mouth of the Eden, 

 St. Andrews, 2ist August 1880; stuffed and 

 now in St. Andrews University Museum. An 

 earlier example, however, 7 ft. 2 in., but im- 

 perfect, occurred at the West Rocks, St. 

 Andrews, in April 1861. (R. Walker, "Ann. 

 and Mag. Nat. Hist," 1862, p. 13.) 



To the above, Sim in his " Vertebrate 

 Fauna of Dee" (1903) adds four as under. 

 Two Aberdeen newspapers are cited for the 

 records, but the author of the " Fauna " does 

 not say whether he saw any of the specimens 

 himself, and no descriptions are given, which 

 seems a pity : 



One ii ft. 4 in. long, caught at Fraser- 

 burgh, 8th February 1884. 



One 17 ft. I in., got in a stake-net near 

 Buckie, April 1884; sent to Aberdeen University, but not 

 preserved. 



