CHAP. xvi. MONTAGU'S MIDGE. 341 



He remembered, and could describe fluently and 

 vividly, the form, habits, and habitats of the immense 

 variety of animals that came under his observation. 



Now, this Colonel Montagu had in 1808 discovered 

 on the shore of South Devonshire the same Midge 

 that Edward rediscovered in 1864 on the shore of 

 the Moray Firth. Colonel Montagu had clearly and 

 distinctly described the fish in the second volume 

 of the Memoirs of the Wernerian Natural History 

 Society ; but he had not given any figure of it. He 

 named it the Silvery Gade (Gadus argenteolus). The 

 Colonel passed away, and with him all further notice 

 of his fish. It was never again observed until, fifty- 

 six years later, it was rediscovered by Edward. 

 Future writers on British fishes ignored it. They 

 believed that Colonel Montagu had been mistaken, 

 and had merely described the young of some species 

 already known. Even Mr. Couch, the most accom- 

 plished ichthyologist of his time, had swept it out of 

 his list of British fishes. But Montagu was too 

 close an observer to be mistaken. As Professor 

 Forbes had said of him " There is no question about 

 the identity of any animal that he described ; conse- 

 quently his descriptions are permanent." 



Hence the surprise of Mr. Couch on receiving from 

 Edward the identical fish that had so long been lost. 

 " There is one of your little fishes," he said in his 

 reply to Edward's letter, " that I am satisfied about, 

 and the history of which is a matter of much inte- 



