G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 215 



ing it, both peculiar and suggestive, consisted in the curious 

 development of the head of the first dorsal fin-ray, which, with 

 its tentacles, pigmental spots, etc., gave the impression of, as 

 it were, a mimicry of the head of a Nereis or worm. The 

 best known representative of the Lophioid fishes is the un- 

 couth species known in different regions under the names of 

 fishing-frog, goosefish, bellows-fish, etc. This has a long fila- 

 ment just on the top of the head, terminating in a brush, and 

 is said to answer the j)urpose of enticing small fishes into the 

 vicinity of the owner, when the body is concealed from view 

 in the mud. The bunch in question on this new genus and 

 species {Oneiroides) is thought to be an attractive bait of the 

 same character. 12 A, August 24, 333. 



PECULIARITIES OF SALMON KELTS. 



Mr. Buckland, in Land and Water, calls attention to the 

 fact that in certain male salmon kelts examined by him early 

 in February, the skin of the fish, in which the scales are pock- 

 eted, is abnormally thickened, so as almost to obliterate the 

 appearance of the scales, and cause the fish to appear as if 

 destitute of them. The female kelts, however, did not exhibit 

 this phenomenon, the scales being in them little if at all al- 

 tered either in the color or thickening of the scale-pockets. 

 2 A, February 4, 1871, 87. 



SALMON-FISHING IN LOCH TAY. 



Mr. Frank Buckland, in Land and Water, gives an account 

 of a visit to what he considers the finest salmon-fishing ground 

 in Scotland namely, Loch Tay. This patch of water is about 

 fifteen miles long and one mile wide, very deep, and filled with 

 water of the utmost purity and of very low temperature. In 

 this lake the salmon sometimes make their appearance as early 

 as December, although fishing does not begin until the month 

 of February, the purity of the water and the abundance of 

 food being supposed to induce these fish to come up from the 

 sea at a much earlier period than usual ; but it is not until 

 the following November, or ten months later, that the repro- 

 ductive season begins. The average weight of the fish is 

 given at about twenty pounds, while those of twenty-five to 

 thirty are by no means uncommon. 



In another article Mr. Buckland comments upon a female 



