504: Zoological Society.- 
In the same copy of Pennant’s ‘ British Zoology’ occurs the follow- 
jng note and figure, which is here copied two-thirds the size :— 
pg ag ia ee 
Ze LG Og a ee 
ees CPLR 5 
RA ~ 
Wis KE WES RE Rt 
Wit We We Re VY a 
Se Win 
Gy S 
KS ~ 
SOT SOI Ma 
« «York, March 29, ’96.—On Friday last a curious and uncommon 
fish came on shore at Filey Bay, and was taken by four women ; they 
sold it to a man who brought it to this city ; it was 134 feet in length, 
rather more than one foot in depth, and not more than 3 inches in 
thickness. Its skin was smooth and of a silver hue: had no tail, and 
its fins were the colour of those of the roach or perch. It may be 
considered as a nondescript, neither Linnzeus, Pennant, or any other 
writers on Ichthyology having given any description of it.’ 
«This paragraph is cut from the York Chronicle of last Thursday, 
and the enclosed I traced from a drawing by Dr. Burgh, who penned 
the paragraph and made the following notes on his drawing.” —J. F. 
** 13 feet long, 1 deep, 3 inches thick ; head 7 inches long; eye 13 
diam. ; no scales, but very small protuberances, silvered over like the 
swim of a herring; these run the whole length in stripes, alternate 
with others which are bare, and of a light colour. 
““The dorsal fin runs the whole way from the head to the other 
end, at which there is no tail. The dorsal fin is red, like that of a 
roach or perch ; 6 bronchial rays; dorsal fin 290 and 13 rays; the 
pectoral 12; ventral 1; no anal. No teeth; a soft tongue. The face 
and inside of the mouth black. Anus 4 feet 9 inches from the head. 
Iris a silver-white. He ran on shore at Filey Bay, March 18, 1796 ; 
was seen by four women, who took him and sold him to a man who 
brought him to York, where on March21 I saw him. Though there was 
then no caudal fin, it is not clear that he never had one, for there was 
an appearance of mutilation in its place. The two sides were precisely 
alike. The eye in the drawing is placed a little too low.’—W.B. 
This description is mentioned by M. Valenciennes in his ‘ Histoire 
des Poissons,’ x. 365, under the name of Gymnetrus Banksii ; nothing 
is said of the figures which accompanied the letter. I can see nothing 
