2 Messrs. Hancock and Embleton on a Gymnetrus 



reappeared at a little distance, and pulling up to it they found it 

 again lying on its side; they plied the picket a second time, and 

 struck it a little behind the head ; the picket again tore through 

 the tender flesh" by a violent effort of the fish, which escaped once 

 more, but with diminished vigour ; on the boat coming a third 

 time alongside, the two young men putting their arms round the 

 fish, lifted it into the boat. Signs of life remained for some time 

 after the fish was captured, but no doubt it was in a dying or 

 very sickly state when first discovered by the Taylors. 



It was exhibited the same day in Tynemouth, North and South 

 Shields, and brought to Newcastle next morning. In the after- 

 noon we first saw it ; we found it much injured by the strokes of 

 the hook and by rough handling during its removals and the 

 examinations it had undergone. The fins were a good deal torn, 

 but the fish evidently quite fresh. 



Its colour was a uniform silvery gray all over, resembling bright 

 tin foil or white Dutch metal, except a few irregular dark spots 

 and streaks towards the anterior part of the body. On closer 

 inspection the remains of a bright iridescence were seen about the 

 pectoral fin and head, the blue tint predominating. 



External description. — The fish presents somewhat the form 

 of a double-edged sword blade, being excessively compressed ; its 

 greatest thickness is decidedly nearer the ventral than the dorsal 

 border ; from the thickest part it slopes gradually to each border, 

 the dorsal being the sharper. The length of the fish is 12 ft. 3 in., 

 the mouth not being projected forward ; immediately behind the 

 gills it measures 8| in. in depth ; from this point it gradually 

 enlarges to a distance of upwards of 2 feet further back, where it 

 attains its greatest depth of 11^ in.; this dimension remains 

 much the same for lj> ft. beyond ; it then gradually but per- 

 ceptibly diminishes to the end of the dorsal fin, where the depth 

 is 3 in. 



The thickness through the head at the gill-covers is 2 in., at 

 the part of greatest depth 2 j in. ; Plate I. fig. 2 shows a section 

 at this part. Opposite the anus somewhat less ; it then gradually 

 diminishes to the end of the dorsal fin, where it is upwards of 

 fths of an inch, fig. 3. 



The fishermen state that when this fish was first taken it was 

 all over of a brilliant silvery iridescent hue, resembling in inten- 

 sity that of the fresh herring, which soon faded, and shortly 

 after we saw it, all traces of the iridescence except those already 

 mentioned had disappeared. The skin is covered over with a 

 silvery matter in which no scales are visible to the naked eye, 

 but which is most readily detached from the skin and adheres to 

 anything it comes in contact with. Submitted to the microscope 

 it is found to consist partly of minute convex scale-like bodies of 



