220 MALACOPTERYGII. 



and taken in the bay, was brought to me. On the '20th of this same month two 

 more were, like that of the 8th, captured in the mullet-nets at Garmoyle, a 

 deep part of the bay, about three miles from town. One of these, in size and 

 of a blackish colour like those hitherto noticed, proved to be a female ; but the 

 other, a much smaller specimen, was of a beautiful deep rose colour on the lower 

 half of the body, this hue prevailing to a greater extent than the orange repre- 

 sented in Donovan's figure of the species ; this was a male lish. 



"Cuvier remarks, ' Le Cycl. gibbosus. Will., vol. x. f. 2, ne parait qu'un Lump 

 male empaille ' (Reg. An. tom. ii. 346, 2 ed.), the correctness of which seems to 

 admit not of doubt. It may be added, that Willughby copied his figure from 

 Gesner (lib. 4, paralipomena, p. 29). The hump appears tome to have been a 

 manufacture of the preserver's, probably to add to the eft'ect of the uncouth 

 aspect which the fish at best presents, a conjecture which I venture to make on 

 account of the stretched appearance which the skin presents throughout this 

 dorsal pyramid (hence the appellation of pyramidatus bestowed on it in Shaw's 

 General Zoology, vol. v. part 2, p. 360, pi. 167) in the figure of Gesner, and 

 which is repeated in the ^orks of Willughby and Shaw. Opposed to this view, 

 however (which might suffice were one specimen only recorded), is the circum- 

 stance, that the C. yibbosus is stated to have occurred in the Baltic Sea, Northern 

 Ocean, and (according to_Sibbald) on the coast of Scotland." — Ann. Nat. Hist. 

 vol. iii. 



April 1th, 1840. A female lump fish was found adhering to a stone 

 under the wheel of the bridge at " the paper mill," Belfast, the ex- 

 treme point to which the tide flows at high water. The fish was dead 

 when discovered, and full of roe. 



3Iarch 8th, 1841. The largest Ci/cIop. lumpus I have seen was sent 

 from Portaferry to-day, for the Belfast Museum. It is 28^ inches long, 

 is a female, with ova protruding, and has no red markings but the usual 

 begrimed appearance of this sex. 



June 22nd, 1844. Mr. Hyndman to-day took a number of the young 

 of this species, from f inch to 1 inch long, but none exceeding an inch in 

 length, but floating on the surface in the Kyles of Bute : a fortnight 

 afterwards he saw them similarly floating on the surface of the sea, at the 

 Skerries on the Dublin coast : they rested by attaching themselves to 

 floating sea- weeds. 



Ci/c/o])tertis lumpus, young. Atig. 2.j<7?, 1846. Mr. R. Patterson brought 

 me this morning three specimens alive, from Cultra, taken on the 22nd, 

 about an inch in length : two of them are to the naked eye of a uniform 

 bright green colour (but differing in shade), without spots; the third is of 

 a pale green covered over with large rust-coloured spots, like the C. mi- 

 mitus, Zool. Don. pi. 1<54. Their fins are all of a beautiful hyaline trans- 

 parency, and when the fish moves quickly are consequently invisible : a 

 bluish line tinged with gold extends from each eye to the mouth and as 

 far behind the eye in a straight line ; pupil blackish, irides reddish 

 golden. 



These specimens confirm the view which I took in a paper, published 

 in the Annals, vol. iii. p. 38. In place of the dorsal lump in the adult 

 fish, they have a fleshy membrane of the same colour as the body, which 

 serves as a fin in all their motions ; thi'ee or four points like those of rays 

 project a little from its margin, are brownish, under parts of the fish are 

 greenish-white, pectoral fins orange tipped with dusky. 



Mr. Yarrell says : * 



" Some of our fishermen consider that we have on our coast two species 

 of lump fish, which they distinguish by the names of Red Lump and Blue 



* Br. Fishes, vol. ii. p. 366. 



