FISH NOTES 203 



" It was about two inches long, and had evidently 

 been very beautiful, but was in so dilapidated a 

 condition that I sent it to Mr. Day of Cheltenham, 1 

 in order that my determination of the species might 

 be placed beyond doubt, and he was good enough to 

 confirm my conclusions. The little creature has so 

 many names that I hardly know which to distinguish 

 it by. Pennant was the first to describe it, and 

 called it the l Sheppey Argentine,' a very misleading 

 name, as it is not an Argentine at all. Yarrell 

 called it ' Pearl - Sides,' a very appropriate and 

 descriptive name. The American Fisheries Com- 

 mission give it a better name still, 'Muller's 

 Scopelus.' It has a very wide distribution, as may 

 be imagined when I say that the only other specimen 

 I ever saw was given me by a whaling captain, who 

 caught it in lat. 73'12 north, long. 14*28 west, a 

 long way north-west of Jan Meyer, and that it, or 

 a specimen very like it, has also been taken in the 

 Mediterranean. In the British Isles it has been 

 taken chiefly in the north of Scotland, but also off 

 the coasts of Devonshire, Flintshire, and Killiney 

 Bay, near Dublin. In life the little fellow is very 

 beautiful, the scales large and lustrous, very easily 



1 Author of British Fishes. 



