taken off the coast of Northumberland. 1 1 



would have been necessary. Seven or eight species only have 

 been recorded. Cuvier and Valenciennes, in vol. x. p. 365 of 

 their ' Histoire Naturelle des Poissons/ describe one species from 

 a manuscript in the library of Sir Joseph Banks, which is pro- 

 bably identical with ours, and to which they have given the name 

 of G. Banksii. It was thrown up at Filey Bay, March 18, 1796, 

 and taken to York market on the 21st. The description is as 

 follows : — " La queue lui manquait aussi. Sa longueur etait de 

 treize pieds, son epaisseur de trois pouces, la longueur de sa tete 

 de sept. Ses nancs etaient garnis de petites protuberances argen- 

 tees disposees en series longitudinales. La dorsale, qui s'etendait 

 depuis la tete jusqu'&Pautre extremite, etait rouge, et avait deux 

 cent quatre vingt dix et treize rayons (les treize rayons sont sans 

 doute ceux de la nuque) ; la pectorale en avait douze ; la ventrale 

 un seul. II n'y avait point d'anale ; on ne voyait point de dents ; 

 Pinterieure de la bouche etait noir ; la distance de Panus h la 

 bouche etait de quatre pieds. Toutes circonstances qui, comme 

 on voit, se rapprochent beaucoup de ce que nous avons observe 

 dans nos Gymnetres de la Mediterranee*." 



This description, though not conclusive, is sufficient to war- 

 rant us in adopting the name given by the French naturalists, 

 and thus to avoid running the risk of adding uselessly to the list 

 of synonyms. 



Another species is described in the same work, vol. x. p. 298, 

 under the name Gymnetrus Gladius, which very much resembles 

 our specimen ; besides however some minor differences, the upper 

 border of the operculum differs materially — in the former it is 

 convex, and presents three angular points ; in the latter it is 

 smooth and concave f. 



There are two Norwegian species which appear generally to 

 precede or accompany the shoals of herrings, and hence are 

 called " King of the Herrings." Of these, the Regalecus Glesne 

 of Ascanius (G. Ascanii of Shaw) seems to be the most nearly 

 allied to our fish, but it is distinguished from it by the following 

 marks. It is 10 ft. long and 6 in. deep ; its length is therefore 

 to its depth as 20 to ] . From the measurements given in the 

 former part of this paper, it will be seen that our fish is 13 times 

 longer than it is deep. This has 268 rays in the dorsal fin ; 

 that 120. 



Again, the G. Ascanii is devoid of the transverse dusky streaks 



* It 1ms not been in our power to refer to the work here mentioned ; but 

 to the kindness of Mr. Adam White of the British Museum, who called our 

 attention to the above record, we are indebted for this extract, and also for 

 another relative to G. Gladius. 



f The G. Telum of the same authors is also different from our fish, this 

 having 208, that 398 rays in the dorsal fin. 



