1910.] AND INVERTEBRATES OF ST. HELENA. Ill 



was between 7 and 8 feet in length, and I was told that it weighed 

 about 400 lbs. 



This species is regarded at St. Helena as the typical or common 

 form and has no special name, but is merely called the long-fin 

 or the albacore. It is mentioned by Day as occurring in Indian 

 waters, and by Bleeker (Verh. Batav. Genootsch. xxiv. 1852), who 

 saw one specimen in the market of Batavia. 



Lowe suggests that the figure given by Pennant (Brit. Zool. 

 ed. 1, iii. pi. lii.), which according to the text is taken from a 

 specimen 7 ft. 10 ins. long, weighing 460 lbs., taken at Inveraray, 

 really represents a specimen of his T. albacora, not of the 

 common tunny. The figure represents the prolonged second 

 dorsal and ventral fins, and the description states that these fins 

 were high and falciform and that the finlets were of a rich yellow 

 colour. This description and figure could scarcely apply to any 

 other species, although this species does not appear to have been 

 recognized in the British Islands subsequently. Lowe also refers 

 to Sloane's albacore, mentioned and figured in his ' History of 

 Jamaica ' published in 1727 (Tab. i. fig. 3), as possibly repre- 

 senting this species. This figure also shows the prolonged and 

 pointed second dorsal and ventral. Cuvier and Valenciennes 

 (vol. viii. p. 148, 1831) describe this fish, not from specimens, but 

 from Sloane's description and figure, and consider it to be an 

 Auxis, on account of the interval between the first and second 

 dorsal, heading their discussion with the names " L'Auxide de 

 Sloane. Scomber Sloanei nob." This should evidently be Auxis 

 sloanei nob., as they have already defined the genus Auxis for 

 fishes of this character. But in all probability the first dorsal is 

 not correctly represented in Sloane's figure, as the posterior spines 

 are short and can only be seen by forcibly raising them from the 

 deep dorsal groove which receives this fin when it is depressed. 

 These spines may well have been overlooked by an observer in those 

 early days of ichthyology. Dresslar and Fesler consider Scomber 

 sloanei Cuv. & Val. as a synonym of the common tunny. These 

 imperfect records are interesting historically, and because they 

 suggest that the species occurs in the West Indies, and that a 

 specimen has occurred in Scotland ; but as Lowe was the first 

 accurately to distinguish the species from others, his name must 

 be accepted. 



In the published form of Giinther's British Museum Catalogue 

 the description of this species is merely copied from Lowe, and no 

 specimens are recorded ; but in the MS. additions in the inter- 

 leaved copy used in the Fish Department there are now three 

 specimens registered as follows : — 



It is evident, therefore, that the species occurs at the mouth of 

 the Persian Gulf. Another stuffed specimen is exhibited in the 



