2996 Fishes. 



fossil which are in the possession of Mr. Harris, and to which refer- 

 ence is made in the foregoing communication. The head would 

 appear not to have been present in the specimen figured by M. Agas- 

 siz. This part is, however, apparently complete in several of the 

 specimens obtained from the new locality discovered at Gamrie. The 

 tail, moreover, is altogether different ; at least it appears so to others 

 as well as to myseif, although we would be understood as making no 

 pretensions to knowledge or to experience in palaeontological re- 

 searches. But it would, perhaps, be desirable that these differences, 

 or, as may very probably turn out, these supposed differences, should 

 be examined by competent authority, and not through the medium of 

 a drawing, but from the original fossils themselves. For such a pur- 

 pose, 1 have no doubt that, should you wish it, these originals would 

 be readily transmitted for your inspection. One of the specimens is 

 much smaller than the others ; but, except in size, the identity would 

 seem to be exact between it and those w T hich are larger. In other 

 respects, such as the sail-like fins on the back, and the character of 

 the scales, &c, the specimens agree exactly with the beautiful and 

 highly finished representation of the Diplacanthus longispinis as 

 given by M. Agassiz. 



Mr. Harris has in his possession a large fossil specimen, discovered 

 in the same locality, in which the scales are of great size, and are 

 most beautifully and distinctly marked. In the plates alluded to, 

 none of the scales delineated are, to all appearance, of exactly the 

 same character as these now mentioned. 



James Smith. 



November 16, 1850. 



Notes of the Marine Zoology of Moray Firth. By the Rev. George 



Harris. 



(In the Preface to the ' Zoologist' for 1848, you regret (p. xvii) the 

 comparative paucity of communications on Fishes, Crustacea, Ra- 

 diata and Zoophytes ; and you invite the attention to these branches 

 of Natural Science of all such individuals, competent for the purpose, 

 as are resident on the coast ; and as, in consequence, have frequent 

 opportunities of examining those multitudinous productions, which are 

 given up by the mighty deep, but which, when they do not happen to 

 contribute to the food of man, are allowed, almost in every instance, 



