Fishes. 2075 



Occurrence of the Mullet (Mugil chelo) in great Numbers at Coldingham. — " Dur- 

 ing the past and beginning of the present week, a rather singular circumstance oc- 

 curred at Coldingham shore, in the appearance of a large shoal of fish, very rare in 

 this locality, of the mullet species. An unusual number of fish were observed swim- 

 ming about for several days, going and returning with the tide, but no particular no- 

 tice was taken of them until Monday last, when they set in very thick, literally 

 crowding the harbour. The entrance was secured by nets, and a large quantity of the 

 fish caught, and conveyed fresh to the Edinburgh market. They have not since been 

 seen, and it is believed have not appeared on any other part of the coast. The case 

 is not altogether without a precedent in this quarter, a somewhat similar occurrence 

 having taken place about ten years ago, a little farther to the west. — Berwick Adver- 

 tiser, April 10, 1847. 



Occurrence of the Long-tailed Shark (Carcharias Vulpes) near Berwick-on-Tweed. 

 — " On the 30th of July, 1846, a long-tailed shark was captured in our bay. It had 

 got entangled in a herring-net, and killed itself in its efforts to escape. None of our 

 fishermen had ever seen the fish before, which may therefore be considered amongst 

 the very rarest of our visitants. 



" The total length of the specimen was eleven feet and an inch, and the circum- 

 ference in front of the dorsal fin, where the body was thickest, was three feet two 

 inches. The length of the body was a little upwards of five feet six inches, being 

 about half an inch shorter than the tail ; and it was this disproportionate length of 

 the tail that gave to the creature its peculiar and bizarre appearance. The body was 

 fusiform, even, and very smooth to the eye, with a silky glossiness, of a leaden colour, 

 paler on the sides, and white marbled with bluish on the ventral surface. Although 

 apparently very smooth, yet the resistance to the finger, when it was drawn from the 

 tail forwards, proved that the skin was finely shagreened. The tail was shaped like a 

 straight sword. Its origin was marked by a deep incisure or fosse in the back, and 

 from this it tapered gradually to the tip, where it is obtusely pointed ; and just in 

 front and beneath the termination there is a small lobe. A sort of narrow fin ran 

 along the inferior edge, becoming broader towards the base or origin, where it dilated 

 into a falciform lobe. 



" Snout obtusely pointed ; nostrils small, half-way between the snout and mouth ; 

 mouth inferior, lunate ; teeth proportionally small, triangular, cuspidate, smooth ; 

 eye circular, an inch in diameter, dark, with an elliptical pupil ; pectoral fins falci- 

 form ; dorsal fin with a dilated base prolonged behind into a lobe ; ventral fins meet- 

 ing below on the mesial line, and concealing the vent ; adipose fin small, rhomboidal, 

 elongated and pointed posteriorly; nearly opposite, but a little posterior to this fin, on 

 the ventral line, there is a small anal fin. 



" Length from the snout to the eye four inches ; length from the snout to the in- 

 sertion of the dorsal fin two feet seven inches ; length of dorsal fin one foot ; length 

 of the pectoral fins one foot eight inches ; breadth at their base ten inches ; breadth of 

 the tail at its origin seven inches ; length of its large lobe eight and a half inches." — 

 Dr. Johnston, in ' Proceedings of Berwickshire Naturalists' Club.' 



Curious Anecdote of a Pipe-fish (Syngnathus acus) and small Crustaceous Animal. 

 — " We had last summer, 1846, an opportunity of observing the capability of the fins 

 and tail, in enabling the fish to achieve a movement of a very unusual kind. We had 

 taken in a towing-net one of the pipe-fishes {Syngnathus acus), which had been swim- 

 ming near the surface, and had placed it in a basin of sea-water. One of the long- 



