438 



Survey of Fishing- Grounds, West Coast of Ireland, 1890-1891. 



specimen was a female almost ready to spawn, and judging from this condition it 

 seems probable that, off the Irish coast, spawning occurs about the end of 

 summer. 



Description of Specimens. — Only one of our specimens appears to be adult, 

 a female, with ovaries approaching ripeness. Its dimensions are as follows ; 



It is 



Total length, 



Total length, without caudal fin, 



Length of head. 



Horizontal diameter of eye. 



Vertical diameter of eye. 



Length of snout, 



Length of barhel, 



Interorbital space, 



Tip of snout to commencement of 1st dorsal fin, 



II II 11 II ■^'icl I, ,1 



„ „ „ 11 pectoral fins, 



„ ,, ,, ,, pelvic fins, 



„ ,, anus. 



Greatest height of head, 



,, width of head, 



,, height of body, 



,, width of body. 



Height of caudal peduncle. 



We have thus before us an elongate fish, in which the length of the head is 

 contained about 4| times, and the greatest height of the body five times in the 

 total length without the caudal fin. The eye, which is somewhat longer than 

 high, is contained about 3j times in the length of the head. It exceeds the 

 length of the snout, and its vertical measurement is equal to the width of the 

 inter-orbital space, and more than four times the length of the slender barbel. 

 The anus, opposite the ninth ray of the second dorsal fin, is slightly anterior to 

 median. 



The snout is obtuse, bluntly equilateral as seen from above. The upper jaw is 

 distinctly longer than the lower, and the angle of the somewhat oblique gape is a 

 little in front of the level of the centre of the eye. The head reaches its greatest 

 height just behind the eyes, and its greatest width about the middle of the gill- 

 cover. The body is highest and widest at about the middle of the first dorsal ; 

 thence the height decreases gradually towards the anal region, and thereafter more 

 rapidly, until, at the caudal peduncle, it is less than the length of the snout. The 

 peduncle terminates, amongst the insertions of tbe caudal rays, in a lanceolate 

 process. Its total length, from the end of the 2nd dorsal, is 5-5 cm., and from the 



