154 



ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



One about 12 ft., washed into Sandhaven harbour 25th 

 January 1891. 



One 1 6 ft. 3 in., captured in the estuary of the Findhorn, 

 April 1896, and sent to the British Museum. 



According to a statement made to Mr. Eagle Clarke a 

 few years ago, by the harbour-master at North Berwick, it 

 seems probable that a specimen " about I 5 feet in length " 

 was washed ashore to the east of that town many years ago 

 say 1840 to 1845. No contemporary record, however, 

 of the occurrence appears to exist (cf. Eagle Clarke, " Ann. 

 Scot. Nat. Hist.," 1900, p. 13). 



The fullest description of any British specimen is that 

 given by Hancock and Embleton, in the " Annals and Maga- 

 zine of Natural History" (iv. N.S. 1849, P- J > with 2 plates), 

 of one which was captured off Cullerecoats in Northumber- 

 land on 26th March 1849. The best all-round account and 

 figure of the species are probably those to be found in Prof. 

 F. A. Smitt's edition of " A History of Scandinavian Fishes," 

 published in 1893. Several supposed species, including 

 Regaleais glesne (Ascan.), R. grillii (Lindr.), and R. banksii 

 (Cuv. and VaL), are there united under the first-mentioned 

 name. The discrepancies between them as regards ratio of 

 depth to length, number of rays in dorsal fin, etc., have been 

 variously accounted for. A suggestion of M'Coy, that the 

 more slenderly built ones are males, receives some support 

 from the Dunbar specimen, which is a male, a fact of much 

 interest, seeing that hitherto only females have been noted 

 from the Atlantic region. 



" The King of the Herrings," says Smitt, " lives in 

 very deep water, its species being perhaps identical in 

 all the oceans ; but of its usual manner of life we know 

 nothing. Occasionally it appears at the surface, and in 

 the superstitious imagination of the sailor takes the form 

 of ' the great Sea-serpent.' ' It seems probable that those 

 which come to the surface do so as the result of sickness or 

 disease. 



This notice, it should be said, has been drawn up at the 

 suggestion of Mr. Eagle Clarke, Keeper of the Natural 

 History Department of the Royal Scottish Museum. 



