268 CYCLOSTOMI. 



Mr. H. D. Goodsir informed me, in 1844, that the Myxine is captured 

 on the muddy banks on both sides of the May, in the Firth of Forth, by 

 fishermen engaged in fishing for GadidcB ; one which he gave me was 

 taken on a hook, still in its mouth. 



The Lancelet, Amphioxus lanceolatus, Yarrell, 



Has been obtained on the South coast, as noticed by me in the 18th vol. 

 of the Ann. Nat. Hist. (1846) :— 



"Lancelet, Amp/iioxus lanceolatus, Pallas (sp.) ; Yarr. Brit. Fishes. — 

 " Three specimens of this extraordinary fish with which I have been favoured 

 were dredged on sand from a depth of forty -five fathoms off Cape Clear, in the 

 month of May last, by Mr. MacAndrew, whose successful dredging exploits are 

 so well known. This gentleman, writing from Liverpool in August, 1846, gave 

 me the following interesting particulars of the lancelet : — ' The first time I ob- 

 tained this species was early in Sept., ]843, m Kilbrannan Sound, West Clyde — ■ 

 forty to fifty fathoms ; muddy sand : the specimens were of large size, about 

 double that described by Yarrell, and appeared to possess some peculiarities. 

 One was placed in the hands of Mr. Goodsir, and the other deposited in the 

 Museum of the Royal Institution, Liverpool. At the end of April, 1845, spe- 

 cimens were procured off Mount's Ba)', Cornwall, m about thirty fathoms; and 

 West of Scilly, forty-five fathoms in clean sand. It is by no means rare on the 

 Cornish coast, as on two or three occasions I found as many as five m my dredge 

 at once." 



Mr. MacAndrew afterwards found several living lancelets at Bantry 

 Bay, among sand di'edged from shallow water for manure, early in 

 June, 1848. 



