1! VNKs's OATtFISH. 253 



by giving it as 1783. From what is now known there is little 

 doubt that the specimen said to have been taken near Goa, 

 and which was in length only two feet six inches, with the 

 weight of ten pounds, was of a different species from the Cornish 

 fish, although Bloch regarded them as being the same; and it 

 appears further that both of them differ from a fish of the 

 North Sea, known by the name of Ceil Coning, or King of 

 the Herrings, and which Dr. Gunther believes to be the Itegalecus 

 glesne of authors, and different from Banks's Oarfish. 



But some portion of the original mistake concerning these 

 fishes must be imputed to the gentleman who made the com- 

 munication to Bloch, and whom there is no hesitation in 

 believing to have been John Hawkins, Esq., a Cornish gentleman, 

 brother of Sir Christopher Hawkins, Baronet, and himself a 

 competent naturalist, although not particularly skilled in the 

 knoAvledge of fishes, and in this opinion of the source of 

 Bloch's information I am supported by Shaw, who indeed gives 

 Mr. Hawkin's own authority for the fact. This gentleman had 

 accompanied Professor Sibthorp in his botanical travels through 

 Greece, from whence he returned with a large collection of 

 plants, of which however, it does not appear that he afterwards 

 made any use. It is known also that Mr. Hawkins travelled 

 widely over the continent of Europe, and some fruit of his 

 inquiries in the north appeared in a communication which he 

 made to the Royal Cornwall Geological Society on the salt 

 mines of Poland. The pursuits and general character of Mr. 

 Hawkins would lead him to seek the acquaintance of such 

 persons as Bloch and Professor Pallas, to both of whom it is 

 probable that he made such communications as supplied them 

 with materials for their respective works. 



M. Valenciennes has the following remarks: — "Thus, Russel, 

 at the end of his account of the Gymnctre, which is named 

 after him, informs us that a fish of this kind was thrown on 

 shore on the coast of Cornwall in the year 1796, and that a 

 figure of it was sent to Sir Joseph Banks." This fish is described 

 as having long filaments in the place of ventral fins, and a plume 

 on the top of its head; but the tail had been lost. It is to 

 be observed, hoAvever, and in some respects not a little sus- 

 picious, that no allusion is here made to another specimen 

 said to have been obtained in Cornwall in the year 1791, 



