[ 626 ] 



Notes and Memoranda. 



By 

 W. Garstang, F. Balfour Browne, and R. Gurney. 



Motella fusca. A new British Record. On April 9th Mr. Lowe, 

 Curator of the Municipal Museum, found on the shore under a stone a 

 ripe female Motella, which he brought up to the Laboratory. The fish 

 measured 19 cms. It had three barbels, and on investigation failed to 

 agree with the descriptions of any of the five recognised British species : 

 M. nuistcla, tricirrata, macrophtkalma, maculata, or cimhria. 



The fin-ray formula is :— D, 51 (or 52); P, 17 (or 18) ; V, 6 (or 7) ; 

 A, 42 ; C, 26. The head is broad, with the upper surface flattened, and 

 its length is contained about 5| times in the total length, being there- 

 fore equal to about 18 % of the total length. The mouth is relatively 

 small, extending backwards to underneath the eye, the upper jaw being 

 less than half the length of the head and slightly longer than the 

 lower jaw. 



The length of the base of the first dorsal fin is slightly longer than 

 the length of the postorbital space, the latter being 92 % of the former. 

 The width of the vomers together is greater than the longitudinal 

 diameter of the eye. 



The teeth in the upper jaw are, in an outer row, large and somewhat 

 irregular, the others being smaller and more regular. In the lower jaw 

 the outer teeth are small, and there is an irregular row of larger teeth 

 inside. 



The colour of the fish is a uniform olive-brown, paler under the body 

 and on the cheeks, the under side of the head being yellowish-white 

 and only slightly pigmented. The fins, now that the fish is preserved, 

 are more or less uniform with the body in colour, but have a slightly 

 bluish tinge. 



Our specimen does not agree with the descriptions given by the 

 various authors of any of the three British species which it approaches 

 in its characters : M. mustela, tricirrata, or maculata. 



In its fin-ray formula it corresponds most nearly, except perhaps in 

 its pectoral fins, with M. mustela, and also in the smallness of the 



