FISH OF BRITISH ISLANDS. 



416 



Sand-Eel. 



the larger sand-eel (Ammodytes lancea) we have two very 

 conspicuous species. 



As the surface of the British islands exhibits a transition as 

 it were from a northern to a southern 

 character, from the firs of Scotland to 

 the free-growing myrtles of the Devon 

 coast, so the inhabitants of our seas 

 pass through a great variety of form. 

 from a northern to a southern type. While the rorqual of the 

 Frozen Ocean not seldom strands on our northern and eastern 

 coasts ; the flying-fish of the equi- 

 noctial seas sometimes appears 

 within view of our southern shores ; 

 and it is this peculiar position of 

 our insular empire, fronting the 

 colder and the warmer seas, which 

 enriches its waters with such a variety of marine life. " Several 

 characteristic boreal forms find their southern limit within the 

 northern half of our waters, and there 

 some of the most striking and abundant 

 kinds are chiefly developed in numbers, 

 such as the cat-fish or sea-wolf (Ana- 

 rhicas Iwpus), the scythe (Merlangus 

 carbonarius), the ling (Lota molva), 



the cod (Qadus morrhua), the lump-sucker (Gyclo'pteruB 

 lumpus), and even the herring (Glwpea harengus). On the 

 other hand, along the southern shores of England we find 

 fishes becoming frequent which are distinctly of a southern 



Grey Mullet. 



Bed Mullet. 



Salmon. 



type, such as the grey and red mullets (Mugil cephalus and 

 Mullus barbatus), the sea-bream, and, far more plentifully,, 



