OCCASIONAL NOTES. 339 
me a beautiful example of Couch’s “ Dotted Mackerel,” a variety in colour of 
the common form. It was 103 in. in length, and a female, in which the 
ova were not quite ripe for shedding. With it he also sent one of Couch’s 
“Scribbled Mackerel,” another variety in colour of the common form, and 
which Couch considered to be a distinct species, a conclusion I expressed a 
doubt upon in my ‘Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland,’ p. 85. Without 
entering into details in this place, I may mention that the only difference 
between Scomber scriptus and Scomber scomber is one of colour, it being 
merely a variety as respects its markings. On June 2nd Mr. Dunn also 
informed me that a Spinous Shark, Hchinorhinus spinosus, had been taken 
sixteen miles off Deadmans, on a line with mackerel bait. When hooked 
it was swimming at the sea bottom. Although this fish is not a common 
visitor to our shores, still it cannot be considered as very rare. One was 
taken prior to 1828 on the Yorkshire coast; in the summer of 1830 one 
was taken in Filey Bay, Yorkshire; in July, the same year, another near 
Land's End ; in 1837 a third was trawled off Brixham ; early in November, 
1888, one was caught on a line off Berry Head; and December, 1849, 
another in a trawl net off Falmouth Harbour. In 1851 a dead one was cast 
ashore at Gamrie, in the Moray Firth. Besides the foregoing, the following 
have been recorded :—December, 1865, a male, 6 ft. 2 in. long; September 
7th, 1870, one, 8 ft. 3in. long; May, 1875, one, 5 ft. 1 in. long; and 
January, 1877, a fourth, 8 ft. long, all reported by Mr. Cornish from Mount’s 
Bay. In 1869 one was captured off the mouth of the Tyne, and a 
female, about 6 ft. long, at or near the same spot, in a salmon-net in July, 
1876, and which is now in the Newcastle Museum. In 1874 Turner 
recorded one from the Bass Rock, and Mr. Gatcombe likewise, in January, 
1877, observed an example, 64 ft. long, taken off Plymouth, while it has 
been also taken at Brixham. The foregoing instances, to which several 
more might be added, show that this fish may be present at any period of 
the year: that it is mostly captured by baits while it swims near the 
bottom, being, in fact, aground Shark. However, before concluding these 
obvervations, I wish to remark on some beautiful Gurnards shown me 
by Mr. Carrington at the Westminster Aquarium, and which had recently 
been received from the south coast. The size of the young of the 
sapphirines varied, but the inner side of the pectoral fins in all were of a 
lovely light, almost emerald-green, tinted with blue, while in the smaller 
ones the pectoral blotch was of a dark purple with milk-white spots; as the 
size of the fish increases this blotch by degrees disappears, as may be 
distinctly observed in the beautiful living series. There were also some 
fine examples of the Elleck, or “* Cuckoo Gurnard,” the body of each being 
transversely marked with four wide dark bands wider than the red-ground 
colour. On July 2nd Mr. Dunn sent me another variety of the common 
Mackerel, Scomber scomber, captured that day, and called by the fishermen 
