taken off the coast of Northumberland. ba 
would have been necessary. Seven or eight species only have 
been recorded. Cuvier and Valenciennes, in vol. x. p. 365 of 
their ‘ Histoire Naturelle des Poissons,’ describe one species from 
a manuscript in the library of Sir Joseph Banks, which is pro- 
bably identical with ours, and to which they have given the name 
of G. Banksit. It was thrown up at Filey Bay, March 18, 1796, 
and taken to York market on the 21st. The description is as 
follows :— La queue lui manquait aussi. Sa longueur était de 
treize pieds, son épaisseur de trois pouces, la longueur de sa téte 
de sept. Ses flancs étaient garnis de petites protubérances argen- 
tées disposées en séries longitudinales. La dorsale, qui s’étendait 
depuis la téte jusqu’A autre extremité, était rouge, et avait deux 
cent quatre vingt dix et treize rayons (les treize rayons sont sans 
doute ceux de la nuque) ; la pectorale en avait douze ; la ventrale 
un seul. I] n’y avait point d’anale ; on ne voyait point de dents ; 
Vintérieure de la bouche était noir; la distance de anus a la 
bouche était de quatre pieds. Toutes circonstances qui, comme 
on voit, se rapprochent beaucoup de ce que nous avons observé 
dans nos Gymnetres de la Mediterranée*.” 
This description, though not conclusive, is sufficient to war- 
rant us in adopting the name given by the French naturalists, 
and thus to avoid running the risk of adding uselessly to the list 
of synonyms. 
Another species is described in the same work, vol. x. p. 298, 
under the name Gymnetrus Gladius, which very much resembles 
our specimen ; besides however some minor differences, the upper 
border of the operculum differs materially—in the former it is 
convex, and presents three angular points; in the latter it 1s 
smooth and concavet. 
There are two Norwegian species which appear generally to 
precede or accompany the shoals of herrings, and hence are 
called “ King of the Herrings.” Of these, the Regalecus Glesne 
of Ascanius (G. Ascanii of Shaw) seems to be the most nearly 
allied to our fish, but it is distinguished from it by the following 
marks. It is 10 ft. long and 6 in. deep; its length is therefore 
to its depth as 20 to]. From the measurements given in the 
former part of this paper, it will be seen that our fish is 13 times 
longer than it is deep. This has 268 rays in the dorsal fin ; 
that 120. 
Again, the G. Ascanii is devoid of the transverse dusky streaks 
* Tt has not been in our power to refer to the work here mentioned ; but 
to the kindness of Mr. Adam White of the British Museum, who called our 
attention to the above record, we are indebted for this extract, and also for 
another relative to G. Gladius. 
+ The G. Telum of the same authors is also different from our fish, this 
having 268, that 398 rays in the dorsal fin. 
