CHAP. xvi. COLONEL MONTAGU. 339 



species of fish. On the 5th September 1864, he said : 

 "I herewith send you another small fish, which I 

 hope you will give me your opinion upon at your 

 leisure. I freely confess that I am at a loss about it. 

 Although small, it is so well proportioned in every 

 respect, so firm, and so compact, that I cannot believe 

 it to be a young specimen. I took it about a fort- 

 night since, in a small shoal of Thompson's Midge ; 

 and though I have been netting each day since then, 

 I have not yet met with another." 



Mr. Couch was equally at a loss with Edward. 

 At first he said, " It appears to be a Wrass Idbrus, 

 but it is not exactly like any of the known kinds." 

 In his next letter he said, " I think your little fish 

 is the young of the Eock Goby." This did not satisfy 

 Edward. He answered that " the fish, though little, 

 was a full-grown fish ; and that it might possibly be 

 one of Thompson's Irish fish." " No," replied Couch ; 

 " it will be plain to you that it is not Irish from Mr. 

 Thompson's own description," which he then gave. 

 At last he thought it to be " the true Mackerel Midge." 

 He examined the little fish again, and finally came to 

 the conclusion that it was a long-lost fish Mon- 

 tagu's Midge, or the Silvery Gade. 



Colonel George Montagu was an old soldier and 

 sportsman, who had nourished in Devonshire some 

 seventy years before. Living in the country and by 

 the sea-shore, his attention was directed to the pursuit 

 of Natural History. At first it was his hobby, and 



