8 ANACANTHINI. 



thrives on the immense sandy plain "between there and Norway (Buckland). Eeid 

 has obtained it up to 231 lb. weight at Wick : also found in the Moray Firth, more 

 particularly during the month of March : at Banff in deep water (Edward) : 

 Aberdeen (Sim) : not rare at St. Andrew's (Mcintosh). Resident off the 

 Yorkshire coast and in moderate numbers, but seldom caught now at Flamborough 

 where thirty or forty years ago it was very numerous (Yorkshire Yertebrata). 

 In the Norwich papers of February 15th, 1873, one is mentioned as having heen 

 taken off Yarmouth, measuring 5-§- feet long, 2|- "broad, and weighing 7\ stone, 

 and Buckland, another, 6 feet long, weighing 161 lb. obtained from the same 

 locality in 1867. In the Norfolk Chronicle of April 29th, 1876, it is recorded that 

 Messrs. Parker exhibited a halibut from the deep sea off the eastern counties 

 weighing over 300 lb. and above seven feet in length. It has been captured off 

 Sussex (Merrifield) : it is occasionally taken off Devonshire but not sought after 

 (Parfitt) : on April 14th, 1870, one weighing 102 lb. was secured at Mevagissey : 

 it is not common off Cornwall, and has been taken up to 122 lb. off Land's End, 

 and one weighing about a cwt. is recorded by Mr. Cornish in the Zoologist, as 

 captured on a spiller in Mount's Bay on May 15th, 1882. Pennant mentions it 

 from the Menai Straits, and in April, 1829, an example 7\ feet long and 320 lb. 

 weight was recorded from off the Isle of Man (Mag. Nat. Hist. 1829, i, p. 84) 

 and is, perhaps, the example stated by Parnell to have sent to the Edinburgh 

 market (1828). 



In Ireland. — It is taken occasionally on all parts of the coast from December 

 until March. In Portrush, county of Antrim, it is occasionally captured in winter 

 on the cod-lines, baited either with Buccinum undatum or the flesh of various 

 fishes, chiefly Labridce (Zool. 1876, p. 4754). 



The example figured is 26 inches in length and came from the North Sea. It 

 attains to at least 500 lb. weight in Europe. Olasson mentioned one exceeding 

 this from Iceland, and which was said to have been little short of 20 feet in 

 length : while Couch was informed of a still larger example captured on the hanks 

 of Newfoundland. 



