CHAPTEK XIV. 



Herrings Chimctra MonstrosaQ.\Ke. for Ringworm Cold Tea Leaves for inflamed and 

 blood-shot Eyes An old Incantation for the cure of Sore Eyes A curious Dirk Sheath 

 A Tannery of Human Skins. 



HOWEVER unproductive the herring fishing season may be quoad 

 herrings, and this has so far been the worst of a series of bad 

 seasons [September 1870], it rarely fails to provide more or less 

 grist for our mill in the shape of some rarity in marine life 

 worth chronicling. A very ugly and repulsive-looking fish, 

 extremely rare too, was sent us recently for identification. It was 

 caught in Sallachan Bay, in our neighbourhood, having become 

 entangled in the corner of a drift net which the fishermen were 

 hauling into their boat in the grey morning, after a long, 

 wearisome, and profitless night's labours. We had seen the fish 

 before, though not often, and had therefore no hesitation in 

 recognising it as the Chimcera monstrosa a scientific name, by 

 the way in which its lack of beauty is plainly enough indicated 

 a cartilaginous fish, two feet in length, and of somewhat elongated 

 and hake-like form. The general colour is a dull leaden white, 

 mottled on the under parts with small spots of rusty brown. On 

 examining the contents of the stomach, they were found to consist 

 of some very small herring fry, along with partly digested fragments 

 of the adult fish, whence it may be concluded that the CJiimcera's 

 favourite prey, when they can be had, is herring ; a conclusion at 

 whioh we might also easily arrive from the fact that it is seldom 

 or never met with on our shores, except when herring are more 

 or less plentiful. At one time the Chimcera must have been a less 



