THE FISHES OF THE IRISH SEA. 69 



Channel, and off Morecambe. There are also the following records : River Dee, not 

 uncommon (Byerley) ; in the Alt, scarce (Parker) ; another species has also been seen in the 

 Alt ( ? P planeri) ; they were gregarious 12 or 14 tog-ether in gravelly shoals (Byerley) ; in the 

 Dee (A. O. Walker), and in the Menai Straits (White). 



Order 2. HYPEROTRETA. 



Roof of mouth perforated by nasal sac. 



Family 



This group of marine parasitic fish-like animals are the lowest living true vertebrates. 

 The ear has only one semicircular canal. The external openings of the gill pouches are 

 continued into long tubes, which have one posterior opening on each side of the body. The 

 nasal sac communicates with the mouth cavity. There is no dorsal fin. 



MYXINE GLUTINOSA, Linn. Hag". 

 (Day's British Fishes, vol. II., p. 364, PI. CLXXIX., Fig. 3.) 



The "Glutinous Hag" ranges over the north-west coasts of Europe and the east 

 coast of N. America. It is mainly a northern fish, and is commoner in Scandinavian and 

 Scottish waters than in the Irish Sea. 



It has been recorded from Dalkey, Co. of Dublin, by Wright, and from Swansea by 

 Day. We have not yet found it in our area. 



