Ogilby — On some Irish Fishes. 519 



from drains opening into the sea, biit not entered by the tide, to 

 streams and ponds up to 700 feet above the sea level, and in every 

 case but one, they belonged to the var. gyninurus ; the one excep- 

 tion, rar. hrachjcentrus, was obtained in a stream near Donemanagh, 

 county of Tyrone, and measured three inches. From this, and 

 probably from many others of our northern streams, the sprickly- 

 bag, as it is here called, has been almost entirely banished by the 

 reprehensible practice of turning flax-water into the rivers ; how- 

 ever, they still exist in numbers in the small streams, ponds, and 

 drains, where this pollution does not occur. 



- Gasterosteus spinachia. — Known at Portrush as "horn-eel," 

 from a fancied resemblance to Belone vulgaris. 



Lahrus niaciilatus. — Called " rock -bream " at Bray, and 

 " merrin " at Portrush, where L. mixtus is distinguished as 

 " mej'rinroe." They are specially sought for on the north-coast 

 as bait for crab, lobster, and buckie- creels, and also for conger 

 and deep-sea lines, the method employed being as follows : — 

 Strong, but fine, boulters, known as " merrin lines," baited with 

 buckles and hermit-crabs, are set on a rocky weed-covered bottom, 

 about an hour before the turn of the tide, and are taken up before 

 the new tide has time to set down upon the line, since, should it 

 do so, the masses of tangle on which the line rests, being reversed, 

 would cover the line, and thus probablj^ cause its loss, or at any 

 rate strip it of all its hooks. The wrasses are also salted and 

 kept for winter use both by the fishermen and country people 

 living near the shore, and are considered good food. 



Labrus mixtus. — Not uncommon at Portrush, where it is taken 

 in the same manner as the preceding species. The largest example 

 measured 12| inches. 



Ctenolabrus nqjestris. — Mr. Blake Knox's assertion [Zoologist, 

 1866, p. 506), that this wrasse is so abundant in Dublin Bay as to 

 merit a local proverb and name must, I think, be looked upon 

 with some suspicion. I have caught many dozens of small wrasses 

 on the Dublin coast, but all were either Crenilahrus melops or the 

 young of Lahrus maculatus ; and it is a significant fact that our 

 National Museum does not yet contain a native specimen, though 

 we would be only too happy to see it there. Barncleugh is on the 

 coast of Northumberland, and Selby's example was, therefore, 

 English, not Irish. 



