SAND-EEL. 319 



measuring twelve inches in length ; Ray^s fish was fifteen 

 inches and a half long : it is further distinguished by the 

 greater length of the head, and particularly of the lower 

 jaw ; by the commencement of the dorsal fin being on a line 

 with the end of the pectoral fin-rays : the dorsal fin of the 

 Sandlaunce beginning in a line with the middle of the pec- 

 toral fin, and the head smaller and shorter, as shown in the 

 two representations here given. 



The habits of the two species are in many respects very 

 similar, and will be more particularly referred to under Sand- 

 launce, which being exceedingly common on all our sandy 

 shores, has afforded greater opportunities for observation. 



Both species of Ammodytes are included by Professor 

 Nilsson among the fishes of Scandinavia ; both species also 

 occur in the Forth. Dr. Neill, in his account of the fishes 

 of that locality, says, the Edinburgh fishermen call the large 

 ones Hornels probably an abbreviation of Horneels in re- 

 ference to the greater length of body and the horn-like 

 elongation of the lower jaw, by means of which they are 

 enabled to bury themselves in the wet sands of the sea-shore, 

 from which they are scratched out with iron hooks for bait 

 or sale. 



Stephen Oliver the younger, in his agreeable Rambles in 

 Northumberland and on the Scottish Border, when describing 

 the fishing in the Tyne, says, Sand-Eels follow the young 

 fry of the Coalfish into the harbour, and are frequently 

 caught with the same bait as the Poodlers (young Coalfish), 

 which is used in a manner similar to fly-fishing for Trout. 

 The common length of the Sand-Eel in the Tyne is from 

 twelve to fourteen inches ; and their jaws, by a peculiar con- 

 formation, admit of great expansion. They swim rapidly, 

 and dash at a shoal of fry with the voracity and swiftness of 

 a Pike. Mr. Couch says that a large specimen caught on 



