20 ANACANTHINI. 



1 or 2 inches in length, and may occasionally be found under stones at low water- 

 mark " (R. Couch). 



As food. — Mr. Cornish found its flesh to be excellent. 



Habitat. — From the coasts of northern Europe, round Great Britain to France, 

 where, however, it is very rare. 



Round the British coast it is by no means rare, and even common off Cornwall. 

 Several examples have been obtained in the Orkneys (W. Baikie) ; it occurs at 

 intervals off Banffshire and along the whole line of coast (Edward) ; Aberdeen 

 (Sim) ; not common at St. Andrew's (Mcintosh) ; Firth of Forth (Smith), where 

 Parnell observes that it is rarely seen except during stormy weather ; off 

 Berwickshire rare (Johnson). Mr. Anderson Smith obtained three examples in 

 1882 from Loch Creram in Argyleshire. Two examples, taken in February, 



1852, at Redcar (Rudd, Zoologist, p. 3504), and a third recorded by Ferguson ; 

 also, in 1836, several found there on the beach, but none for the succeeding 

 eight years (Meynell) ; in fact it is of rare occurrence in Yorkshire (Yorkshire 

 Vertebrata), one at Bridlington on May 27th, 1881 (Boynton) ; the Medway 

 (Henslow). Along the south coast it has been very frequently taken; at St. 

 Leonards, in 1872 (Bowerbank, Zool. p. 2996) ; August 23rd, 1865, one at 

 Bovisand, Devon, another March 12th, 1873 (Parfitt), while off that county it 

 is frequent during the spring months (Baker) ; at Weymouth, in August, 1854, 

 a fine example was taken by a trawler (Gosse) ; off Teignmouth, in January, 

 1843, one 6y inches long was captured in a drift net. I obtained it at Penzance 

 on August 13th, 1881, and heard of many more along the coast, some of which 

 I saw ; in fact Mr. Cornish (1866, Zool. p. 311), recording one taken in May 

 at Penzance, remarked that he had obtained 48 examples since 1858. Bristol 

 Channel (Baker) ; Swansea (Dillwyn) ; Anglesea (Gosden). 



In Ireland one, 6|- inches in length, was taken March 25th, 1835, at 

 Ardglass, co. Down ; September 30th, 1842, Dr. Ball obtained one, 7-f inches 

 long, off Kingston Pier ; 2 more were purchased in the Dublin market and sent 

 to the University Museum ; in 1865 one was captured in the winter (Blake-Knox, 

 Zool. 1866, p. 508) ; in 1853 another, h\ inches long, at Dalkey Sound, in 8 or 10 

 fathoms of water, and presented to the Dublin Nat. Hist. Soc. (Kinahan, Zool. 



1853, p. 3990). 



The example figured was from Penzance. In British waters this fish attains 

 to 7 or 8 inches in length. 



