3058 Fishes. 



been engaged as a whaler, it was pronounced to be the Greenland shark (Scymnus* 

 borealis). Its jaws, mouth, and part of the skin, came into the possession of the Rev. 

 Mr. Harris, of Gamrie, by whom they were presented to the splendid museum of the 

 University of Edinburgh. The authorities connected with that institution charac- 

 terized them as magnificent specimens. I had an opportunity of seeing them ; and 

 it seems impossible for the imagination to conceive an apparatus more terrible than 

 the mouth, and fitted with more tremendous certainty to carry into execution the pur- 

 poses which, in its construction, the Creator had in view. The teeth, arranged all 

 around in rows the one behind the other, have exactly the appearance of a collection 

 of surgeons' lancets with their cutting edge uppermost, placed as closely together as 

 possible, and at that precise angle in which their power, when called into use, will 

 operate and cut in twain with the most speedy and the most direful effect— J. Smith ; 

 Manse of Monquhitter, Aberdeenshire, February 8, 1851. 



Occurrence of the Porbeagle Shark (Larnna cornubica) near Bournmouth.— On the 

 sandy beach towards Hengistbury Head, I observed a specimen of the above ; it was 

 about four feet and a half long. This specimen, although not much shorter than the 

 one recently taken by the Portland fishermen, off the Chesil Bank, and which I re- 

 ceived from Mr. Thompson, of Weymouth, struck me as being remarkably thin in 

 girth for its length, and I concluded that it must have been a young one. There 

 were recent prints of the footmarks of the fishermen who had been hauling the seine, 

 and I have no doubt that the fish, like the one at Weymouth, was drawn ashore by 

 them.— W. F. Templer; Charmouth, Dorset, December 14, 1850. 



Occurrence of the Black Bream at Lowestoft.— I have just received a specimen of 

 the black bream, from Lowestoft, which is a fish I have not previously met with on 

 this coast. About a fortnight since, a fine specimen of the Ray's bream was washed 

 ashore at the same place.— J. H. Gurney ,• Easton, Norwich, December 17, 1850. 



Occurrence of the Short Sun-Jish on the Norfolk Coast.— Two large specimens of 

 the short sun-fish were taken on this coast during the month of November ; the first 

 off Lynn, and the second off Gorleston, and therefore both of them at the mouths of 

 rivers. — Id. 



Occurrence of the One-spotted Goby (Gobius unipunctatus) at Lowestoft.— I saw, 

 yesterday, a specimen of the one-spotted goby, taken in a net just outside the south 

 pier of the harbour at Lowestoft. I am not aware that the occurrence of this species 

 has been previously observed on the coast of Norfolk or Suffolk.— Id.; February 15 

 1851. J ' 



Occurrence of the Argentine at Redcar.—Y esterday I found four small specimens 

 of the argentine on the beach, about a mile from the Tees' mouth. They all had the 

 same cucumber-like smell as the smelt.- J 1 . S. Rudd ; Redcar, February 14, 1851. 



Occurrence of Ray's Bream (Brama Raii) near Edinburgh. -Sever*] specimens of 

 Ray's bream have been cast ashore in the Firth of Forth lately ; apparently indicating, 

 in connexion with its occurrence at Redcar (Zool. 21)71), something like an immigra- 

 tion of this fish on our shores. One of these, which was noticed by Mr. Thompson at 

 the last meeting of the Edinburgh Physical Society, was apparently in a diseased 





* Scymnus, originally a Greek word, was employed by the ancients to denote the 

 y.»m,n ol various animals, and especially of that to which they gave the name of sea- 

 calf. 



