SHORT SUN-FISH. 351 



Sir Andrew Balfour and Sir Robert Sibbald have noticed 

 this species in Scotland, and Dr. Neill mentions three ex- 

 amples that were taken in the Frith of Forth. I am in- 

 debted to Edward Jesse, Esq. for a memorandum of one 

 caught on the coast of Northumberland in October 1834. 

 Dawson Turner, Esq. and Mr. Paget have known it to be 

 taken at Yarmouth. I have seen one that was brought to 

 the London market. Colonel Montagu, in his MS. notes, 

 mentions one that was caught at Salcombe in July 1799 : 

 this specimen was of large size, and weighed three hundred 

 pounds. In the fifth volume of Mr, London's Magazine of 

 Natural History, page 315, there is a record of one that was 

 taken at Plymouth ; and Dr. Borlase, Willughby, and Mr. 

 Couch have seen and described examples that were taken on 

 the Cornish coast. Still farther to the westward and north- 

 ward, the Sun-fish has been taken in the Bristol Channel, 

 and one was caught during last summer at Tenby. On the 

 Irish coast, it has been taken at Londonderry; and I am 

 greatly indebted to the kindness of Dr. Arthur Jacob, Pro- 

 fessor of Anatomy in the Royal College of Surgeons in Dub- 

 lin, for his remarks on a specimen taken in the month of 

 August 1826, between the south-west coast of England and 

 Dublin Bay. This paper was published in the Dublin 

 Philosophical Journal for November 1826, and is the best 

 account of this fish that I am acquainted with. 



When observed in our seas, they have generally appeared 

 as though they were dead or dying, and floating along on 

 one side, presenting the broad surface of the other side to 

 view. Dr. Neill says, of one that was brought to him, 

 " The fishermen informed him, that when they observed it, 

 it was swimming along sideways, with its back-fin frequently 

 above water. It seemed to be a stupid, dull fish : it made 

 little or no attempt to escape, but allowed one of the sailors 



