On the Occurrence of the Vaagmaer, by Geo. Bolam. 509 



number, frequented the pond at Wedderburn North Lodge, in the 

 months of December and January last; but, as the frost con- 

 tinued so long, the pond was frozen over, and the Teals left. 



Pochard (Fuligula ferina). — Several Pochards have been shot 

 during the past winter, on the Tweed, below Finchy. Owing to 

 the river here having been frozen completely across, during the 

 hard weather in December and January, we have had no Ducks 

 on the Paxton Water. 



Goosander (Mergus merganser). — Several Goosanders have been 

 shot recently on the Whiteadcler. . Two were killed on Spital 

 estate, one of which, Mr Compton Lundie, of Spital, kindly 

 showed to me. It was a male in immature plumage. 



18th February, 1879. 



On the Occurrence of the Vaagmaer, or Deal Fish (Gym- 

 netrus arcticus) at Spittal. By George Bolam, Berwick- 

 on-Tweed. 



On the 26th March, 1879, a very rare fish (the Vaagmaer — 

 Gymnetrus arcticus of Yarrell) was picked up on the beach at 

 Spittal, and found its way into a fishmonger's shop in Berwick, 

 where I saw it on the 27th. Like most of the specimens which 

 have, as yet, been obtained, this example was in a very mutilated 

 condition ; the head and shoulders being almost entirely want- 

 ing, and the fins and tail very much broken. It measured in 

 length about 4 feet ; its depth was 1\ inches (not including the 

 back fin, which was about an inch high) ; and it was not more 

 than an inch or an inch and a half in thickness in the thickest 

 part of its body, while the edges were not much thicker than 

 paper. A part of the mouth, which was still visible among the 

 fragments of the head, almost exactly resembled that of a 

 herring, but was, of course, larger. The whole fish looked as if 

 it had come from the stomach of some larger fish ; and as if the 

 head and shoulders had been partly digested. Owing to its un- 

 satisfactory condition it was not attempted to preserve it. 



[Mr Bolam transmitted a pencilled outline of the form of the 

 fish. It is new to the Border Fauna]. 



