xhi YORKSHIRE—VERTEBRATE FAUNA. 
diversity which exists in the sea-bed, and partly also by the 
proximity of the ‘Dogger Bank,’ that famous nursery of the 
North Sea. 
Of the 249 British species of fishes, 155 are recorded as 
having occurred in Yorkshire. The claims of seven—the Basking 
Shark, Large-spotted Dogfish, Starry Ray, Northern Chimera, 
Sparus or Dentex, Four-horned Bullhead, and Atherine—are 
however insufficient, until confirmed by further research, to entitle 
them to admission into the county fauna. 
Of the 148 species thus recognised 32 are inhabitants of fresh 
and 4 of estuarine or brackish waters, the remainder being 
marine. 
Of the fresh-water fishes none call for remark save the Grayling, 
a form interesting on account of the irregularity of its distribution 
in Britain, which is probably more widely diffused and abundant 
than in other counties. 
Of the marine forms several species are worthy of note. The 
Argentine, Ray’s Sea-Bream, and Banks’ Oarfish appear to have 
occurred more frequently than elsewhere in Britain. The Eagle 
Ray and the Hebridal Argentine, of which very few British 
examples are known, have occurred singly in Yorkshire. Other 
rarities noted are the Fox Shark, Greenland Shark, Spinous 
Shark, Black Sea-Bream, Bergylt, Maigre, Blackfish, Spanish 
Mackerel, Tunny, Red Bandfish, Jago’s Goldsinny, Tadpole Hake, 
Sea-horse or Hippocampus, Sunfish and Lancelet. 
Several species have been first described or recorded as British 
from specimens taken in the county, such as Banks’ Oarfish, Ray’s 
Sea-Bream, and the Short-headed Salmon, while Yorkshire speci- 
mens of other species have been figured by Yarrell, or represent 
them in the British Museum collections. 
The present work is the means of adding the following species 
to the county fauna—the Sharp-nosed Ray, Long-nosed Skate, 
Striped Surmullet, Black Sea-Bream, Red Bandfish, Striped 
Wrasse, Goldsinny, Poor or Power-Cod, Rough Dab or Sand- 
sucker, Sailfluke, Smear Dab, and Dwarf Sole—twelve in number. 
Dr. Lowe’s useful list of the Fishes of Norfolk, published in 
1873, includes 124 of the species here admitted as British, besides 
