TAKEN OFF THE COAST OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 295 
gradually decreasing in length. The rays of the crest are more 
closely set generally than those of the rest of the dorsal fin, which 
stand about half an inch apart. Exclusive of the crest there are 
268 rays in the dorsal fin, They terminate in fine points that 
project a little beyond the margin of the very delicate connecting 
membrane. This membrane was colourless according to the 
fishermen, but was bordered by a pale red when we observed it. 
The rays of the back are highest about the middle of the fish, 
where they measure upwards of 34 inches, and at the termination 
of the fin are about one inch in height. 
From the end of the fin the dorsal margin slopes rather rapidly 
downwards to within about an inch of the ventral margin, and 
is then prolonged to a rounded point at the caudal extremity. 
There is no caudal fin. The skin at this part, it is true, was 
broken, but on pressing together the broken edges they seemed 
to leave no hiatus. The fishermen persisted that the part was at 
first entire, and that there was no appendage whatever. Ata 
distance from this point of about two inches along the ventral 
margin there exists a shallow notch. Both the margins of the 
fish at this part are very thin. On carefully inspecting the sur- 
face of the body, something like a series of transverse marks cor- 
responding with the bodies of the vertebra can be discerned, and 
the number of these has from this appearance been roughly esti- 
mated at about 110. 
The pectoral fins are placed close behind the gill-covers, and 
much nearer to the ventral margin than to the lateral line, which 
is at least half an inch above the points of the rays of the fins; 
these fins are colourless, delicate, subtriangular, and the longest 
rays measure two inches. They are eleven in number, and a 
good deal arched. 
The ventral fins are represented by a pair of very strong and 
straight spines, stated by the fishermen to have been 7 or 8 inches 
long and as if broken at the end, and furnished along the pos- 
terior edge with a delicate membrane about half an inch broad. 
When we saw them they were about 4 in. long, and the mem- 
brane was distinctly visible at their bases. These spines, which 
at their root measure about din. in diameter, project from each 
