SOME FISH NOTES 321 



Referring to this superabundance of latinities^ I replied as 

 follows : 



"... Let me say that I cannot help every European 

 naturalist picking his own pet Latin name for the self-same 

 fish. I suppose each one thinks his own the only correct and 

 best one. Hence, when such small fry as myself have to 

 sort over these names for our own lists, we usually pick which 

 suits us best, although I prefer to be guided by him who is 

 the standard authority of the time, and at present that 

 man is the late Dr. Day." 



The winding-up of a very animated and interesting corre- 

 spondence upon the topknot, a fish which one might have 

 covered with one hand, was reached on February loth, when 

 a wire from " G. C." to the Angler's News was announced as 

 follows : 



" Representing Folkestone at meeting of National Council 

 for Sea Angling, I took the opportunity of looking up the 

 authorities at the B. S. A. S. rooms for the purpose of settling 

 once and for all, if possible, the question of the correct defini- 

 tion of my * megrim/ I am pleased to be able to support 

 Mr. Patterson. The illustration in Dodd is an exact fac- 

 simile, including the two small oval fins depicted in the 

 drawing of Mr. Nickels." 



In the course of this discussion, a note from " G. C." 

 was published respecting another " queer fish." He 

 wrote : 



" I send you a rough sketch of a peculiar fish of the sole 

 order, called here a 'witch.' It is taken occasionally in our 

 trawls. The peculiarities are as follow : the under-side is 

 distinctly ' coloured ' to all appearance as if there were 

 scales, although there are none apparent, the better descrip- 

 tion perhaps would be * mottled ' ; a neutral tone about the 

 colour or shade of a silver-tone photo. There is a bony ridge 

 which runs from the apex of the gill and forms a nose ; the 

 eyes are set in bulbous cases so as to be used all ways ; the 

 mouth is small for the size of the fish, with very small tooth 

 formation ; there is a slight coloration of carmine on the 

 left side of the snout ; the tail is ' wispy/ but the fins, dorsal 

 and ventral, both voluminous, and reach from the head to the 

 commencement of the tail. The gills are close and in two 

 curves ; the colouring of the upper part is much that of the 

 light-coloured sole, but there are distinct markings of a darker 

 shade." 



