Gutty Marine Laboratory^ St. Andrews. 253 



a series of pure white spots, some of them larger than a six- 

 pence, had taken their places. The largest spots, which often 

 were not quite circular, were dotted irregularly over the 

 anterior two-thirds, whilst a distinct series about three-quarters 

 of an inch apart, and chiefly in a single row like the ordinary 

 red, occurred along both dorsal and anal fins. On the narrow 

 part of the body in front of the caudal the spots were smaller 

 and nearer each other : none extended to the caudal fin. Tho 

 specimen was well nourished and had evidently escaped the 

 dangers usually associated with conspicuous abnormality of 

 coloration until it came in the way of the undiscriminating 

 methods of man. 



2. On the Example of Regalecus glesne, Ascanius, in the 

 Museum of the University. 



In Day's ' British Fishes' various instances of the occurrence 

 of this fish (his Regalecus Banksii) are noticed, and amongst 

 them is one, on August 21st, 1880, " 12 feet 9 inches long, 

 whicli was found dead, but quite fresh and uninjured, at the 

 mouth of the Eden, on the sands at St. Andrews." Tliis 

 specimen has been stuffed and is now in the University Mu- 

 seum. The author, however, had overlooked another example 

 which was stranded on the West Rocks, St. Andrews, in April, 

 18(31, and an account of which was given by Robert Walkei**, 

 who apparently was unaware of a previou-5 structural account 

 of a specimen by Hancock and Embleton f- 



So far as can be ascertained, the example in the University 

 Museum was caught in the salmon stake-nets off Tents' Moor, 

 on the further bank of the Eden— that is, on the stretch of 

 sand between the rivers Eden and Tay. It was alive when 

 captured and came into the hands of the authorities then in 

 charge of the Museum in a perfectly fresh state. Unfortu- 

 nately no attempt seems to have been made to give a minute 

 account of its external appearance, to determine the sex and 

 the condition of the internal organs, or to see that the taxi-* 

 dermist in Dundee followed nature. The result is that 

 instead of a companion-account to Prof. John Reid's Trachy- 

 pterus arcticus\ (his T. vogmarus) there is only an inaccurately 

 mounted skin as a record of one of the most perfect examples 

 of tlie species procured in this country. The total length is 

 12 feet, yet, according to Day, it was 12 feet 9 inciies when 

 fresh. This reduction may have been due to the abnormal 



* Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 3, x. p. 1 (July 1862). 



t Ibid. ser. 2, iv. p. 1, pis. i. & ii. (1848). 



X Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 2, vol. iii. p. 456 (1849). 



Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 7. Vol. x. 18 



