30 



shaft of each ventral was about the thickness of a goose- 

 quill, was fringed on each side by membrane, and broken 

 short off at the extremity ; the ends having been thrown 

 away at the sea-side, their original length could not be 

 ascertained. The dorsal fin contained two hundred and 

 seventy-nine rays, of which fifteen standing on the head 

 were very tall, but were connected at the base by mem- 

 brane. The pectorals were supported by twelve rays. The 

 lateral line was straight, and about one-third of the height 

 above the ventral profile, except where it rose gradually 

 over the pectorals. The body is described, and the draw- 

 ings represent it, as having a slightly-tapering profile from 

 the operculum to the end, which is rather abrupt, with a 

 spur at its lower corner, and without any indication of a 

 caudal fin. If one existed, Mr. Martin thinks that it 

 must have been very slender. The whole body was 

 clothed by a delicate white skin with a silvery lustre, be- 

 neath which there lay alternate smooth and tuberculated 

 bands running the whole length of the body, palpable to 

 the finger through the outer skin, and becoming more 

 perceptible on its removal. Behind the pectoral fin, a 

 few dark bars, which crossed the body obliquely, were 

 very conspicuous when the fish was fresh, and the dorsal 

 had at first an orange tint. 



Messrs. Hancock and Embleton's paper mentions that 

 one of the Preventive Service men, in the year 1845, 

 observed a fish of this kind in a pool near Alnmouth. 

 On his approach it bent its body into a circle, and 

 he, ignorantly thinking that it was going to spring 

 upon him, boldly attacked it with his cutlass and cut 

 off its head. It was sixteen feet long, eleven inches 

 deep, and six thick. In the struggles of the dying fish, 

 the sands around were covered with its delicate nacry 

 scales. 



