Orcynus alalonga on the Coast oj- Devon. 2G9 



\ 



and shot it. They describe its efforts to free Itself as shaking 

 the palings like the strength of two men, which agrees with the 

 observations of Mr. Couch, who says that a specimen taken in 

 Mount's Bay showed " extraordinary strength when caught with 

 a line.'' 



Unfortunately I did not hear of this fish having been captured 

 till a week after, and when it had become much putrified, and, 

 indeed, had been buried ; so that I cannot give so full and accu- 

 rate a description of it as might be desirable. Still enough re- 

 mained to show to what species it belonged; and on showing 

 the plates of the Tunnies in Mr. Couch's volume to the person 

 who killed it (an intelligent foreman of some works near the 

 river), he declared it to agree with that of the Gernion. 



The shot by which the animal was killed had destroyed all 

 the first dorsal fin and part of the second, so that no examina- 

 tion could be made of these; but the general form was not 

 much injured, and the other fins remained sufficiently defined 

 to enable me to mark their position and numbers ; and the pec- 

 toral fin, one of the most important in identifying the species, 

 was the least injured of all. From this state of the fish I was 

 enabled to note the following particulars. 



The full length of the fish, from the nose to the base of the 

 caudal fin, was 24 inches, the girth round the pectoral fin 19, and 

 the girth immediately in front of the second dorsal 15^ inches; 

 the flesh in this part was very firm and solid. 



The head was pointed, the under jaw slightly the longest, the 

 teeth small and incurved, and the gape about 4 inches ; the 

 nostrils very obscure ; the eye was large, and, when fresh, was 

 slightly elevated, and placed over the angle of the mouth. The 

 sections of the gill-covers were well defined ; and from the nose 

 to the gill-opening was about 7 inches. 



The pectoral fin, lodged in a deep depression, was 8^ inches 

 long, and reached to about the middle of the anal fin. I could 

 not say if the anal and second dorsal were falcated, as the upper 

 parts of both had perished ; but I was informed that both were 

 so. I could trace that there was a short space between the first 

 and second dorsal fins, and that the finlets were eight above 

 and seven below, which I was told had been tinged with yellow, 

 but not so deeply as are those in Mr. Couch's plate. The tail 

 was deeply cleft; but, one-half being gone, I could only judge 

 of this approximately. The weight of the fish when caught was 

 twelve pounds, and nothing was found in its stomach. 



On comparing this fish with the figure given by Couch, I 

 thought the latter more slender for its length than the former ; 

 but this appearance might have arisen from the body having 

 become depressed, from the treatment to which it had been 



