532 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



nate ; at least I have caught numbers of all sizes by setting nigbt- 

 lines in deep still holes during each of the winter months. Here, 

 in the north, the skins are considered excellent as bandages in 

 cases of sprain. Since forwarding the note published by Dr. 

 Pay: — vol. iii., p. 249 — I have examined several specimens from 

 the Burndennelt, which are exactly intermediate in the measure- 

 ments, as given in the last edition of Yarrell, between the so-called 

 A. latirostris and A. auctirostris. Alluding to the mortality among 

 eels in the Lagan — vol. iii., p. 243 — Thompson is misquoted: he does 

 not say the " three previous days," but " three successive days in 

 the previous month." 



Conger vulgaris. — Congers are sought for at all seasons on the 

 north coast, but more especially in spring and autumn. During 

 the winter they are often taken on the cod-lines set some distance 

 off shore, and these examples are never more than 20 lbs. in 

 weight, and are always light-coloured. They are known as " scull- 

 congers," and their appearance is always hailed with much satis- 

 faction, not only because they command a higher price in the 

 market than cod and ling, but also that when cut up they form the 

 best bait for, and are supposed to denote a plentiful supply of, 

 those fish. The fat round the intestines is used as an external 

 remedy in cases of rhumatism and kindred diseases, being rubbed 

 well into the parts affected. Large ones, preserved with brown 

 sugar and pepper, and dried in the sun, are excellent if cut thin 

 and fried like bacon. Thompson only mentions £3 as the value 

 of nets destroyed in a single night, not £5. I am told by a trust- 

 worthy fisherman, who was present at its capture, that^one of over 

 90 lbs. weight was left stranded by the receding tide at Prehen, 

 about two miles above Londonderry, some thirty years ago : the 

 largest he has since seen was taken in a salmon net three miles 

 higher up the river, and weighed 53 lbs. 



Siphonostoma typhle. — Might not this be noted as very rare in 

 Ireland ? 



JSferophis mquoreus. — I have seen one of 31 inches length. 



Nerophis ophidian. — The only two Irish examples certainly 

 known are those mentioned by Thompson, under the head of 

 " straight-nosed pipefish," from the coasts of Down and Antrim. 

 Those recorded as " snake pipefish " belong to N. cequoreus. 



iV. lumbriciformis. — I must demur to Thompson's statement. 



