924 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSFAJM. vol. xxvi. 



•laratiou just ({noted tho author appended the followino- two para- 

 jvraplis. The italics, capitals, antique s(l"), orthooriiphv, and l)nickets 

 are reproduced from tlui original: 



"The black Prince, and his C'oui'in, from An<(iiiah<»' on the Coaft of 

 Guhwa^ and ^Ir. Crclgldon. formerly Governor of (^ipo Corfo CaftJe^ 

 upon feein<>- this Fifh immediately knew it, and faid it was connnon on 

 that Coast, and is very good to eat. The Natives call it OpaJi.^ and the 

 Englifh there call it the Kimj ffli. I fhall therefore retain tho Gn!nea 

 Name, with thefci Character if tics; Opah (rnhiienfliuii e/t plfei>^ offcas^ 

 non /(pKtiiiniofus^ edentulux; Itahenx vmc(mi in dorfo pinna m anterius 

 aculeatmn^ pone hanchias par pinnanim^ in medio ventre par j^in- 

 naniin^ad pofticairiventris partein%Lnicain 2^i nnain^caudara fm^^^^ 



"Mr. Bigland i?iji>,, that, upon opening of it, all its Bowels would 

 hav(^ gone into a Quart-Mug; that the Flefh of the fore Partw^as iirm, 

 and look'd like Peef, and the liinder Part like tine Veal; that the Bones 

 were like thofe of Quadrupeds; })articulary the Shoulder-blades, 

 which refembled thofe of Sheep. [See an Article in the Scots Magazine 

 for Octoher 17-i8, printed at Edinhurgh in Sro.] In a Letter to me, he 

 adds, that i)robably this was a [Pelagian or] Ocean Fish, wandring by 

 chance into the Frith of F(tiili\ and, by the Tide ebbing, IxMng left 

 upon a confidera])le Shoal, or liat Sand, near Leith, was difcover'd from 

 Land in a State of Distrefs; wdiereupon fome Fifhermen plunged into 

 the Sea, and with a Net furrounded it, and brought it to Shore." 



It is not at all probalde that "the black prince " or the "former 

 governor of Capo Corso" ever saw a specimen of Lanipris. The fish 

 has never ])een recoi-ded from the western coast of tropical Africa^ 

 and it certainly is not and never "was common on that coast." Inas- 

 much, however, as it is a wide-ranging pelagic form, it is no more 

 impossi])le that an individual may have been caught near the coast of 

 Africa than that one was actually caught near Cuba. Probably, how- 

 ever, the origin of the name is due either to the fanc}^ of a negro 

 chieftain and the subserviency of a white man, or to a misunderstand- 

 ing or misrepresentation of what was said. It was a "ghost- word," at 

 least so far as the Lainpris is involved. 



