FOUR-HORNED TRUNKFISH. oCl 



clesijrnedly, for the purpose of rendering what was strange and 

 remarkable still more hideous or curious. 



It is to one of these fish, as referred to above, to which 

 I would call the attention of British naturalists as laying 

 claim to be regarded as a lately-discovered, and of cour^se 

 rare visitor to our shores, the evidence of which we shall 

 produce; but that any of this genus should be met with, even 

 in the warmer seas of Europe, was not thought of until the 

 researches of Risso led it to be understood that a few 

 examples which belonged to two species of this family had 

 come within his notice in the neighbourhood of Nice. These 

 were Ostracion cuhicus and O. trigonus of Linnaeus; and this 

 writer assures us of the certainty of what he relates concerning 

 them, although he appears to have been prepared for the 

 incredulity with which his statement would be received by 

 many naturalists. A third species seems to be hinted at by 

 Dr. Gulia, in his "Tentamen Ichthyologiae Melitensis," (p. 40 

 of the Discourse sulla Ittiologia,) but as no description is given, 

 and it had not come under his own inspection, we are not 

 at liberty to refer it to the species presently to be described. 

 But the question is of no small interest as regards the 

 authority on which we claim for our own the example of 

 which we give a figure taken from the specimen; and to this 

 the reply is short and precise. The first intimation of the 

 alleged fact of the cnpture on our coast of an example of 

 the Four-horned Truukfish was received from Robert Lakes, 

 Esq., of St. Austle, himself well known as a naturalist, chiefly 

 in the department of ornithology; and, as regards veracity, 

 he is beyond a doubt. Such a curious fact as the taking this 

 fish on the coast of Cornwall could not fail to lead to further 

 inquiry, in reply to which the fish itself was sent, with the 

 assurance that it had been obtained from a fisherman of 

 Mervagissey, on the south coast of Cornwall, and that this 

 man affirmed he had taken it in a net at some rather con- 

 siderable distance from land; and it was added that this 

 fisherman Was considered to be of sufficient credit to warrant 

 the belief that the information he gave might be relied on. 

 It appears certain that this individual could not have been 

 influenced by any motive of gain in the information he gave 

 about this fish, for the remuneration given him was slight, if, 



