212 Mr. Hardy's Botanical and Zoological Notes. 



Orthagoriscus Mola ; Short Sun-fish. A fine specimen 

 of this rare fish was found by a hoat's-crew of the Coldingham 

 fishermen, on the morning of 16th October, 1860. While 

 sailing between Lumsden shore and Mawcarrs near Moorburn, 

 they were surprised to observe a large fish, with its back fin 

 above the water. Having fixed it with the boat's hook, they 

 took it on board and brought it to Petticowick at the west 

 end of St. Abb's Head. Having given notice to Mr. Wilson 

 of Coldingham, he went to inspect it, and perceived it was a 

 sun-fish. Dr. Hogg of London afterwards joined him in the 

 examination. From a pencil sketch made by Mr. Wilson, 

 and also a photograph, compared with Yarrell's figure in the 

 "^ British Fishes," and a beautiful drawing made by Mrs. 

 Johnston of a fish of the same kind caught near Berwick, in 

 1851, I found it was the Short Sun-fish fO. Mola. J At my 

 request, Mr. Davies, of the Edinburgh Natural History Mu- 

 seum, subsequently saw the fish, and came to the same con- 

 clusion. The weight of the fish was 70 lbs. ; the length about 

 8ft. exclusive of the caudal fin; its depth about 2ft.; and 

 from the tip of the dorsal to the tip of the anal fin, the extent 

 was about 4 ft. I owe these particulars to Mr. Wilson, but 

 for whose exertions it would have lain unnoticed on the shore. 

 A fish-curer sold the fish to the Edinburgh Anatomical Mu- 

 seum, where it is now preserved. About the same period 

 another fish of the same sort was captured off Dunbar, and 

 was exhibited in the town. A very small one was once landed 

 at the Cove Shore. In 1812 we find Mr. Patrick Neill ad- 

 verting to the appearance of several immature individuals in 

 the Firth of Forth. (Scots Magazine, 1812, p. 574.) It is 

 recorded in Sibbald's " Scotia lUustrata," 1684, having been 

 first ascertained to be a native of the Firth of Forth, by Sir 

 Andrew Balfour. The Berwick fish already alluded to came 

 under the notice of Dr. Johnston. The following entry of it 

 appeared in the Berwick Advertiser, Sept. 27th, 1851. Rare 

 Fish. — " On Monday a party of fishermen belonging to Spittal, 

 caught with a hook, when about ten miles out at sea, a sun- 

 fish, a species very rarely found here. It was shown to a 

 naturalist who informed them of its name, and stated that it 

 was not full grown ; it weighed 40 lbs. It was sold to a fish- 

 monger, who has, we understand, forwarded it to Nottingham." 

 Pagurus Prideauxii, Leach. White's British Crustacea, 

 p. 75. This hermit-crab unrecorded for the Berwickshire 

 coast, was found in deep water off" Burnmouth, lodged in a 

 curious domicile formed of a sponge, Halichondria suberea of 

 Johnston, Brit. Sponges, &c., p. 139, &c. The sponge was 



