THE FISHKS OJ BANFFSHIRE. 61 



Leach's Herring. {C. Leachii.) A rather smaller sized Herring than the 

 common species. It is generally met with in small parties in May and June. 



The Sprat, or Garnel Herring. (<7. sprattus.) This also is met with about 

 the same time, but in smaller numbers. 



The Twaite Shad (Alosa Jinta.) Rare. A very fine specimen was taken 

 in our river last summer, about a mile from the sea, and was noticed in The 

 Naturalist. 



The AUice Shad. (A. communis.) The same may be said of this species, — 

 it is rare. They are termed, ' Rock Herring.' A veiy large one was brought 

 on shore at Gardenstown, some years ago, but was destroyed. 



The Cod. {MorrJiua vulgaris.) It is to the stomach of this speciies that I 

 am most indebted for many of the rarer of the testaceous and cinistaceous 

 specimens which I possess. As some of the readers of The Naturalist may 

 not be acquainted with the Cod's bill of fare, a rough sketch may not be 

 altogether amiss. I will only mention what I have myself seen. To name 

 every article of this heterogeneous affair singly, where numbers of one class 

 occur, is, of coui'se, out of the question, as it would take up too much space. 

 The reader will therefore have to exercise his own discriminative powers. 

 Well then : Crabs and lobsters, of almost every description, except Hamarus 

 vulgaris, (which I have never yet found,) from the prickly Stone Crab, 

 {Lithodes Maia,) up to the hard Parten, [Cancer pagurus,) and the larger the 

 better. Shells of every sort, particularly Fustis antiquus and Buccinum unda- 

 tum; no matter whether inhabited by their original possessor, or by a hermit 

 in the form of a Pagurus, it is no obstacle to the voracious Cod. Shrimps, 

 fish lice, sea mice, (Aphrodita aculeata,) urchins, with now and then a star- 

 fish ; ' Dead Men's Paps,' as they are termed here, (Alcyonium,) and Actinias; 

 no matter what they may be attached to, — a shell or a stone, =i= provided these 

 are not themselves fixtures ; all are gulphed by this unceremonious fish. 

 The eggs, capsules,- or purses, of the Dog (Scyllium,) and the Skate, with 

 the roe and ova of other species, particularly when deposited on sea-weed ; 

 then the Algae and the Zoophytes, also, walk down the gullet, along with the 

 spawn, that nothing may be lost. As for the Holothurida^, or Sea-Cucum- 

 bers, few if any of them escape. Now and then fragments of the Me- 

 dusae. Feathers, with the remains of sea-fowl ; and, on one occasion, 

 the skeleton of a partridge Avitli the wings, feet, legs, and head adher- 

 ing. Pieces of pewter, and of cloth, occasionally ; and once a cluster of 

 beech-nuts, with part of a domestic fowl, a cock. As for fish ! — why the fish 

 does not swim, if it be not too large, which Master Cod, when hungry, 

 will not attempt, and, if successful, swallow. In short, nothing seems to 

 come amiss. Such is a brief outline of the Cod's bill of fare, as having 

 chiefly come under my own observation. This, however does not include all 



* It is only about nine moutlis since I took from the stomach of a Cod, a stone which weighed above 

 three pounds, and to which the remains of an Acdnia Yrere still attached. 



