120 ACAXTIIOPTEKYGII. 



that the whole weight could not be ascertained. I carefully Aveighed the 

 ova in the very thin and transparent membi'ane enclosing them, and found 

 them to be 1 lb. 13 oz. avoirdupoise. Each ovum was l-32nd part of an 

 inch in diameter, and after reckoning how many of these were in a drachm, 

 and making due allowance for the weight of the membrane and glutinous 

 fluid in which they were placed, I estimated the total number of ova to 

 be 1,427,344. 



February, 1843. — I am informed by the Rev. J. M. Black that when 

 traM'ling in Belfast Bay he has frequently taken large Lophii, and has 

 always found the food in their stomachs to be sknte, of which he has, to 

 his astonishment, seen specimens a yard long. He describes the Lophii 

 containing these as remarkably large. 



August 19, 1844. — A gurnard, 5 inches long, was taken from the 

 stomach of a Lophiiis about 10 inches in length, captured in Belfast Bay, 

 by Mr. G. C. Hyndman. 



January 1, 1847. — Mr. Darragh, curator of the Belfast Museum, was 

 told by a trustworthy man at Larne Lough, that in one of these fish, which 

 he found dying at the edge of the lough, there was an entire female 

 widgeon perfectly fresh. Another person in the same locality, seeing one 

 of these fish in a dying state, and having observed the tail of another fish 

 protruding out of its mouth, cut the Lophius open and found in it seven 

 mullet, of which three were alive : the whole seven weighed from 3 to 4 

 lb. each. 



A story is told at Youghal of a living widgeon being taken out of the 

 stomach of one. — Dr. Ball. 



I have been informed that the Lophius is frequently killed in a singular 

 manner at Keem in Achil. The waves, on receding, carry back quan- 

 tities of sand, Avhich, getting into these fishes' mouths, disables them, and, 

 being thus seen from the shore, they are, in their extremity, approached 

 and despatched with pitchforks. 



Ml". W. Todhunter once saw a Lophius in shallow water near the shore 

 at Youghal, and presented the butt-end of a whip to it, which it seized 

 and held by, until thus drawn ashore. 



A similar case is recorded by Dr. Parnell (p. 96). Some years ago it 

 was mentioned in the Dublin newspapers that a man bathing in Kings- 

 town in that neighbourhood was seized by a Lophius, and so injured in 

 the leg, that he had to be taken to an hospital, and suffered from the 

 wounds for a considerable time. The fish was said to have been cap-r 

 tured, so that there was no doubt of the species, 



Fiwiily Labrid.^;. 



The Ballan "Wrasse or Greex-Streaked Wrasse,* 



Lahrus variabilis, Thompson, 



— maculatus, Bloch, 



— lineatus, Donovan, 



Is the most common of the Labridee, and found around the coast, 

 where of a rocky character. All the wrasses are partial to rocks, in which 

 respect they differ from the gobies ; some of the latter prefer sands, al- 

 though others do not. 



* Called "Bavin" on the North-East coast; " Morrian " and " Murran- 

 roe " near the Giant's Causeway. [Also called " Gregagh" in the North. — Ed.] 



