NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 177 



examples as I have had an opportunity of observing do su in a 

 languid manner, rolling their bodies from side to side so as almost 

 to submerge the dorsal fin, which, on these occasions, appears above 

 the surface like that of the shark. Their food is sea-weeds, which 

 their strong and powerful cutting jaws are well fitted to crop. 



In shape they are very remarkable, the body being compressed 

 and deep in proportion to its length, young examples being 

 almost circular. At the tail they are abruptly truncated, as if 

 the latter part of the body had been cut away immediately 

 behind the dorsal fin. With age the body assumes a more elongated 

 appearance, and what was in its early stage a mere tubercle above 

 the mouth, becomes a hump. Internally there are some peculiar 

 points of structure worth noting, the spinal cord being absent, or 

 at least in a very rudimentary condition. Those who are interested 

 in the anatomy of the Sun-fish might consult a paper by Dr. 

 Cleland, our Vice-President, in the Natural History Revieio for 

 1862, p. 183. The stomach is not dilatable, resembling a portion 

 of the intestine. 



Although not what one might call a rare fish on our coasts, the 

 visits of the Short Sun-fish are sufficiently uncommon to be worth 

 recording. Balfour, Sibbald, Neill and Parnell all notice its occur- 

 rence in Scotland, and it has also been taken on several occasions 

 in Irish and English waters. Most of these specimens have been 

 of small size; but Colonel Montagu, in his MS. notes, mentions 

 one which had been caught at Salcomb in July, 1.799, weighing 

 300 lbs. In the Zoologist for 1876, Mr. Barker, late of the Rothesay 

 Aquarium, describes one taken at Ardglass, Ireland, which he says 

 was of fair average size, its total length being 3 ft. 6 in., and its 

 height 4 ft. 10 in. Mr. Barker also states that, probably, not more 

 than three are taken yearly on our shores. Recently there has 

 been quite a number recorded. On the 11th Sept., the crew of 

 the Dundee Pilot Cutter caught a fish, said to be a Sun-fish, four 

 miles east of the Buoy of Tay, which measured about a yard long, 

 and weighed two cwts. About the same time, two Orkney fisher- 

 men, fishing off Brisay, observed one basking on the surface, which, 

 after an unsuccessful attempt to capture it, escaped; and in the 

 beginning of October, a fine specimen, measuring 3 ft. 9 in. long, 

 and 2 ft. 3 in. deep, was caught at the Little Ferry, Sutherlandshire, 

 and is now in the Dunrobin Museum. 



The example which I am now about to describe was taken in 



