56 The Scottish Naturalist 



occurred at St. Andrews, Tnde, " Memoirs of the Warnerian Nat. Hist. Society 

 vol. vi., p. 569." It is not mentioned by Parnell in his "Fishes of the Firth of 

 Forth," nor in Low's "Fauna Orcadensis." Mr. Couch remarks: "This 

 species may be regarded as scarce, rather than rare." Dr. Day, in his "Fishes 

 of Great Britain and Ireland," at present in course of publication, says of this 

 species: "Mostly seen off our coasts during winter, and but little is known 

 respecting its habits. It has been recorded as rare in Banff (Edward)." 



The smallest of those now referred to was fifteen inches long, and the 

 largest twenty-four inches. In each case the stomach was empty. One of 

 them, when cooked, proved to be excellent and delicate eating. In the hand- 

 book issued in connection with the London Fisheries Exhibition, on " British 

 Marine and Fresh-water Fishes " (by W. Saville Kent), a most excellent and 

 useful little work, a mistake occurs in speaking of the fish under notice, in as 

 far as it is there called the Great Fork-Beard, or Torsi', Brosmius brosme, thus 

 confounding two very different species. 



drummond's echiodon — Fierasfer den talus 

 A small specimen of the above was cast on the beach here, on the 18th of 

 March last, and is the first of its kind that has come under the notice of the 

 writer. This interesting form was first discovered as British by Dr. J. L. 

 Drummond, who found one on the beach at Carnclough, County Antrim, June, 

 1836. Subsequently another was found, " thrown on the shore by a storm in 

 the harbour of Valencia ' : (Couch). In the Zoologist, for April, 1863, it is 

 reported by Mr. Edward that six specimens of this fish had been obtained at 

 Banff; but this report is not noticed by Dr. Day in his history of British 

 fishes. This species is found on the Mediterranean and Italian shores, and 

 is remarkable [principally on account of its extraordinary dental development, 

 which appears much beyond the little creature's requirements. However, 

 when we come to know its habits, and of what its food consists, about all of 

 which at present we are ignorant, there is little doubt but that an explanation 

 of its long, sharp canines, and numerous other keenly-edged teeth, will be 



rendered to us. 



the basse — Lcibrax lupus. 



A fine specimen of this species was caught in the salmon nets, near the 

 mouth of the Dee, on the 21st of May last, and was brought to the writer by 

 the fishermen. It was a female, laden with spawn, and was thirty inches long, 

 a id ten pounds in weight. This fish was known as Labrax, or " sea wolf," 

 by the Greeks, and Lupus, or " wolf," by the Romans. Dr. Day remarks : 

 " In Britain it is most common in the summer months, along the southern 

 coasts, while towards the north it decreases in numbers. In Scotland it 

 is rare to the north of the Firth of Forth. Edward records a single 

 example, found dead in the River Deveron, in Banffshire, in 1839, 

 while it has not been recorded from the Orkneys and Shetland Isles." The 

 stomach of the one referred to was empty, and but little is known, with any 

 degree of certainty, as to what its food consists of. As an article of food, this 

 fish is excellent, and it is, therefore, to be regretted that it is not more plentiful 

 in our seas. 



THE STRIPED RED MULLET, OR SURMULLET — Mullus SUYVnihtUS. 



A specimen of the above, ten inches long, was brought in by one of our 

 trawlers on the 20th August. This is one of the rarest fishes on the north-east 



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