DVBLnr NATUIUL HI8T0BT SOCIEir. 119 



fusion had been perpetuated by different authors with regard to the family that 

 this fish has been placed in ; but it is probably owing to the rarity of its being 

 obtained in the recent state. Thus Pennant, Fleming, Yarrell, and eren Cu- 

 vier, in Rcgne, An. T. 2. p. 336, place it among the Gadidee, or cod-fish family. 

 Swainson states it as a connecting line between Motella and Phycis, and, in the 

 broadly-depressed head, as a singular prototype of the Fishing Frog-fish (Lo- 



J)hius piscatorius). Dr. Parnell, however, in his contributions to the Ichthvo- 

 ogy of the Firth of Forth, and in the admirable scientific descriptions he has 

 drawn of the rare additions obtained by him on that part of the coast, satisfac- 

 torily showed the error, and considered that a newfamily ought to be constituted 

 for its reception. He states : " This affords an opportunity of observing how 

 liable we are to be deceived when we do not examine specimens in the recent 

 state, and how ready our zeal for discovering new objects is to hurry us into 

 creating species out of imperfect descriptions. The want of this opportunity 

 misled Dr. Fleming in forming it a new species, the Raniceps Jago. The Rani- 

 ceps trifurcatns, called also tadpole-fish, has a broad flat head, with the body 

 compressed, and narrowing towards the tail, the eves large, irides a pale yel- 

 low, colour a dark shade of brown, mottled with black, Tips white. It differs 

 from the cod-fish family, or Gadida;, in having the head covered with minute 

 scales, and as having the intestines free from csca. In the gadi, or cod, no 

 scales cover the head, and the intestines have numerous csecal appendages. A 

 specimen of the poor, or power-cod (Morrhua minuta), was exhibited. It is the 

 smallest of its genus. It was taken by a spilliard off Scariff Island, county of 

 Kerry. Where the Morrhua minuta is met, the fishing grounds are considered 

 good. The fishermen of the northern seas are always glad to meet it, and in tho 

 Baltic its appearance is a source of pleasure. 



MAY 3, 1850. 



IMTRODUCTION OF IflNMOW INTO THE SOUTH OF IB£LAMI>. 



Mr. R. P. Williams read a letter from Mr. Hackett relative to the introduc- 

 tion of the Minnow (Leuciscus phoxinus) into the South of Ireland: — '♦ You may 

 think it worth recording that, on the 3rd of April, 1848, the Minnow, or Pink, 

 was first deposited in our waters. Dr. Herrick, of Mallow, brought ten dozen, 

 alive, per the Vanguard steamer, from Dublin ; four dozen and a half were 

 placed by me in the stream now crossed by the Great Southern and Western 

 Railway, about two miles from Cork, at Rathpeacon ; the remainder I placed in 

 the Blarney River, a tributary to the Lee. Since the communication with Dub- 

 lin by railway, 1 have had several lots of these little fish, but as yet we cannot 

 find that they have multiplied." Mr. Williams stated that having occasion, some 

 Years ago, to want minnow for trolling in the Bandon River, county of Cork, 

 he searched the Brinny River, a tributary, and was surprised to learn that the 

 Minnow was unknown, the fish used there as a substitute being the Loach, and 

 called there Caileach. He had, in consequence, made inquiry in several places 

 in the south, west, and north-west, and found that the fish had not been met. 

 The communication of Mr. Hackett was, therefore, of some importance. It 

 Seemed a remarkable thing that the fish introduced, two years ago, under fa- 

 Touring circumstances, had not increased, when it was known that they 

 abounded in all the rivers and canals of Leinster. 



MARCH 5, 1650. 



ON TUB SPECIES OF COTTD8 ON THE SOUTH-WEST COAST. BT WILLIAM 

 ANDREWS, M.R.I.A. 



On a former evening I brought before your notice some remarks with refe- 

 rence to the second family of the Acanthopterygii, or those fishes with the bony 



