504 



Zoological Society. 



In the same copy of Pennant's ' British Zoology ' occurs the follow- 

 ing note and figure, which is here copied two-thirds the size : — ' 



" * 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 13| 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 Linnaeus, 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 1| 

 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 March 2 1 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 



