cHap. xvi.] Edward its Rediscoverer. 297 
identity of any animal that he described... .consequently 
his descriptions are permanent.” 
Hence the surprise of Mr. Couch on receiving from Ed- 
ward the identical fish that had so long been lost. ‘‘ There 
is one of your little fishes,” he said in his reply to Edward’s 
letter, “that I am satisfied about, and the history of which 
is a matter of much interest. You are well acquainted 
with the little mackerel midge, first made known by my- 
self, and which has been denominated Couchia glauca by 
Thompson. But, previously to this, Colonel Montagu had 
published an account of a species much like it, but differing 
in having only two barbels on the snout. It does not ap- 
pear that any figure was given, but he speaks of them as 
occurring in Devonshire, where he lived. No one has seen 
a fish which answers to his description since that time—I 
suppose more than fifty years ago; and it has been judged 
that some mistake was made, especially as he never gave a 
notice of the midge with four barbels. Yet Montagu was 
a good naturalist, and a correct observer. He calls his fish 
silvery gade; for he wrote before Cuvier made these fishes 
into a new genus, termed Motella. But your fish answers 
closely to Montagu’s lost fish, When I inform you that 
Montagu gives the number of rays in the fins, you may 
judge how closely he examined this fish, When my ‘ His- 
tory of British Fishes’ is ended, I intend to give a few as 
a supplement, and as ascertained too late to fall into the 
regular order. This little fish will find a place there, when 
I shall take care to mention your name as its rediscoverer.” 
In a notice which Edward afterward gave of the fish he 
observed : “I may mention that this genus of little fishes, 
designated with the appellation of midges from their small 
size, and containing three species, are now authentically 
known to be inhabitants of the Moray Firth, all three, both 
young and old of each, having been procured here—a cir- 
cumstance which perhaps ean be said of no other single 
district but our own. This, not so much for the lack of the 
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