THE SAND-LAUNCE. 301 



This species is found in many situations along the east 

 and west coasts of Scotland ; it has been taken on the Ber- 

 wickshire coast, on the coasts of Yorkshire and Suffolk, 

 and as far south as on the shores of Devon and Cornwall. 

 It is seldom or never observed to frequent rocky places, or 

 where the ground is hard and stony, but is found almost 

 invariably on fine sandy banks where it conceals itself by 

 burrowing under the surface, at a depth of from four to six 

 inches. It is generally considered a rare fish on most of 

 the British coasts, compared with the A. lancea, the next 

 species to be described. It is, however, not unfrequently 

 met with in the Firth of Forth, more particularly in the 

 sands at Musselburgh and Portobello, where numbers are 

 raked out from under the sand, after the ebbing of the tide. 

 In Edinburgh they receive the name of homers, and are 

 brought to market in August, and sold by the dozen. The 

 flesh is wholesome and palatable ; they shed their spawn 

 in September. Specimens are occasionally met with mea- 

 suring fourteen inches in length. 



Ammodytes lancea.* — The Sand-Launce. 



Specific Character. — Dorsal fin commencing in a line over the 

 middle of the pectorals. 



Description. — From a specimen six inches in length. Head one- 

 fifth of the entire length, caudal not included ; body elongated, ap- 

 proaching to square, with the angles rounded, nearly of equal thick- 

 ness throughout. Colour of the back and upper part of the sides 

 dusky green ; belly silvery- white ; caudal of an olive tinge. Dorsal 

 fin commencing over the middle of the pectorals, or frequently over 

 the lower third, and terminating at a short distance from the caudal ; 

 all the rays simple, and nearly of equal height, about half the length 

 of the long caudal rays. Anal fin arising immediately under the 

 twenty-ninth ray of the dorsal, and ending in a line with the las 

 ray of the same fin ; all the rays simple, the anterior ones, excep 



* Ammodytes lancea, Yarr., Jen. Ammodytes iofnanus. Term., FIcin 

 Sand-Eel, Riyyle, Small-mouthed Launce, 



