14 Messrs. Hancock and Embleton on a Gymnetrus 



and dyed everything that it touched ; and might be said in some 

 sort to resemble the quicksilvered back of a looking-glass. It 

 appeared when laid on the sand like a long oak plank, and was 

 such a fish as nobody here ever saw before, which caused a vast 

 concourse of people round it the whole day." 



The breaking of the fish was owing to its great delicacy of 

 structure, and probably its little capacity for lateral motion. It 

 was necessary to take great care in removing the Cullercoats fish 

 for fear of fracture from the same causes. 



We are informed by Mr. Stanton of Newcastle, that upwards 

 of fifty years ago a silvery fish resembling in its general cha- 

 racters the subject of this paper was exhibited here, and we have 

 been favoured by Mr. Robert Bewick with a copy of a hand-bill 

 relating to a fish shown in this town March 27, 1794, undoubt- 

 edly referring to the specimen seen by Mr. Stanton. It is as 

 follows : — " To be seen at Moses Hopper's, Flesh Market, a most 

 curious fish taken at Newbiggen by the Sea, 10 ft. long, 1 ft. 

 broad, 2 in. thick, and is thought to be the greatest curiosity 

 that was ever seen in the kingdom before." 



This fish was sketched by our celebrated townsman Thomas 

 Bewick, but unfortunately the sketch has been mislaid. 



We have lately been favoured with a letter from Mr. George 

 Tate of Alnwick respecting a fish of this genus, from which we 

 make the following extract : — " A fish was exhibited in January 

 or February of the year 1845, similar in its general form to that, 

 a drawing of which you showed me when I was last in Newcastle. 

 One of the Preventive Service men observed this fish lying in 

 a shallow pool in the sands about a mile south of Alnmouth, 

 where it had been left by the receding tide. Its great length 

 and unusual appearance at once raised the man's curiosity and 

 excited his fears. On approaching it the creature bent itself 

 round so as to appear like the rim of a coach-wheel, and the man 

 supposing it was about to dart upon him drew his sword and 

 struck it on the head. The fish struggled much, but the man 

 striking it repeatedly at length succeeded in cutting off its head. 



" This fish was 16 ft. long, 11 in. deep, and about 6 in. thick 

 at the thickest part, from which it very gradually diminished 

 both in thickness and depth. The eye was large, measuring 

 about 5 in. in circumference. The teeth very small and very 

 acute. The skin was smooth, and no pustulations or hard points 

 were observed, neither were any transverse streaks noticed j but 

 there were a few longitudinal ridges or corrugations about half 

 an inch apart along the sides. The colour was a silvery gray, 

 and the skin was covered by minute silvery-looking scales or par- 

 ticles, which were in such great quantity, that in the course of the 

 struggles the creature made after being struck, the spot where it 



