1978 Fishes. 



Myliobatis, if not M. aquila. An account of this specimen, by my 

 father, will appear as a postscript to the paper. 



Lamprey, Petromyzon marinus. Common. Used only as bait. 



Silver Lamprey, P. fluviatilis. Common in the streams in spring. 



Mud Lamprey, Ammoccetes branchialis. Common. 



Species omitted. 



European Hemiramphus, Young Greenbone, Hemiramphus Euro- 

 pceus. This species was first made known as British, by my father, 

 in a paper in the ' Transactions of the Linnean Society,' and it has 

 been figured by Mr. Yarrell in the Supplement to the first edition of 

 his \ British Fishes.' It has since been taken by Mr. Edward Clarke, 

 of Ipswich, and by myself in Mount's Bay. I caught several in 

 a pool during the early part of the pilchard season, and consequently 

 about August. There is a great deal of interest attached to this spe- 

 cies, from its general figure and character ; it seems to belong to the 

 genus Hemiramphus, and yet no specimen of that genus has ever been 

 captured in the European seas. On showing my specimens to 

 the fishermen, they immediately called it the young of the Belone vul- 

 garis, which it very greatly resembles ; it differs chiefly in the remarkable 

 deficiency of the upper jaw. If it belongs to the Hemiramphus, the 

 spawn must be deposited in our seas, and near the shores ; and it is to 

 be hoped all naturalists will be on the alert to discover so remarkable 

 a creature. They swim about at the surface in companies, and have 

 much the habits of the garfish. The fins are similar and similarly 

 situated in both. My father's specimens were taken in July, Mr. 

 Clarke's in August, and those I took were captured the first week in 

 August. The following is closely allied to it. 



Hemiramphus? obtusus. This species was also taken in Au- 

 gust, 1846 in a pool near low-water mark in Mount's Bay. This 

 my father also first described in 1841. His account was read before 

 the Linnean Society in June, 1842. He says, " Their length is half an 

 inch ; head proportionally large, especially across ; the body slender ; 

 eye large ; snout in front of it short and abrupt ; upper jaw arched ; 

 under stout, projecting to a considerable extent, but in some speci- 

 mens more than in others, the point declining, and the sides not ap- 

 pearing to be formed of parallel rami of the jaw, but rather of a carti- 

 laginous substance ; vent placed posteriorly ; body, which is equal 

 from the head to this point, tapering thence to the tail ; lateral line, 

 so far as it could be distinguished, straight; dorsal and anal fins 



