MARINE TAUNA AND FLORA OF SOUTH DEVON AND CORNWALL. 85 



Cetacean of a inilky--white hue, but appearing slightly tinged with green 

 from the intervening stratum of clear water. It was about 16 feet long, M'ith 

 a round bluff head. It continued to swim along before the Tcssel's head, a 

 few yards beneath the surface, for about ten minutes, maintaining our rate 

 of speed, which was five knots an hour, all which time I enjoyed from the 

 bowsprit a very good view of it. It could have been no other than the "White 

 Whale, the B. borealis of Lesson." 

 It frequently occurs on the Scottish coast. 



Pish. 



Of the Fish there have been but few novelties that I can add to the pre- 

 vious lists. The most interesting specimens are those of a Double-spined 

 Ray and a variety of the Short-finned Tunny ; the former is preserved in 

 the Museum of the Plymouth Institution, and the latter in that of the 

 Natural-History Society of Penzance. The Ilay was taken off' Plymouth, and 

 appears to coincide nearly with that of Eaia aquila (L.), except in being 

 very much larger, and in the presence of two spines. 



One point of interest that belongs to this specimen is the relation that it 

 bears to li. uttavella (L.). Of this Mr. J. Couch says : — " Consulting Artedi, 

 and after him Linnajus, and comparing them with Lacepede, I find generally, 

 as characters common to R. aquila and H. attavella, the body smooth and a 

 slender tail. Linnaeus says R. attavella has two spines often ; but Lacepede 

 makes the same remark of JR. aquila. The material difference is that R. 

 aquilti has a very long tail, while attavella has it even less than the length 

 of half the body. According to Lacepede (who says nothing of a Short- 

 tailed Eagle Ray), the pectorals of his aquila are gradually slender, like the 

 wing of an Eagle ; but Artedi says that in attavella the pectorals are broad." 



The dimensions of the recent specimen are 2 ft. 4 in. across the fins, 1 ft. 

 10 in. from the snout to the base of the spines, and 2 ft. 10 from the 

 snout to the extremity of the tail; while those of R. aquila, in the Mu- 

 seum of the Plymouth Institution, are 14 in. across the fins, 11| in. to the 

 base of spines, and 2 ft. 1 in. from the snout to the extremity of the tail. 



Of the Tunny (Thynnus hracliypterus), or Short-finned Tunny, Mr. Thomas 

 Cornish of Penzance says that the specimen that he captured in Mount's Ray 

 differs from that given, both in figure and letterpress, vol. iv. Appendix, by 

 Mr. Couch, in his work on Rritish Fishes, in having " more fin-rays in the 

 first dorsal than my specimen had, and does not show two free soft fin-rays 

 between the first and second dorsals, which were conspicuous in my fish." 



CEtrSTACEA. 



I am not aware that there are any novel forms or species to be recorded 

 as the result of the dredging-operations of the Committee since the last 

 reported list of Crustacea. In fact, the Committee have thought that they 

 would be doing more to advance our knowledge of this class of animals, 

 in pursuing the life-history of those that are already known to us, than by 

 searching for the few stray specimens that have not hitherto been described 

 as inhabitants of these seas. 



Mr. Cornish informs me that he has very recently obtained in Mount's 

 Bay several specimens of Polybius Henslowii. 



Stenorynchus plialangium. 



The young of Stenorynchus is a true Zoe, but diff'ers from the typical form 

 in the absence of the great rostral spine, and in the increased length of the 

 great dorsal spine, by a series of latero-dorsal spines on the three posterior 



