Fishes. 3119 



use of Mr. Yarrell's valuable work on ' British Fishes.' Though doubtless the same 

 fish as that described and figured by him under this title, the examples I have met 

 with differ considerably from both his figure and description. First, the dorsal fin 

 commences in a line with the base of the pectorals. Secondly, the tail, when collapsed, 

 is of a bluntly triangular form ; when spread out, of a circular fan-shape, and altoge- 

 gether has a far less filamentous appearance than shown in Mr. Yarrell's cut. And, 

 lastly, the head from the eyes to the snout seems more gradually tapered. In all these 

 respects the specimens I have examined correspond better with the descriptions of 

 those examined by Dr. Parnell. I believe it is well known that the skin of this fish 

 shows great variety of colour. I have frequently met with examples in which it was 

 dappled, with others, where it was broadly striped with alternate dark and light bands, 

 and with others again, in which it was of a dingy olive with a tinge of yellow. I be- 

 lieve it is also well known that the dark spots on the dorsal fin of this fish become less 

 distinct with age ; but I have not seen any notice taken of another peculiarity which 

 seems also dependant on that infirmity : I allude to the appearance of minute granu- 

 lar points or dots, irregularly but thickly scattered over the skin, and even the mem- 

 brane covering the eyes. These dots vary in size, but are never larger than the head 

 of a common pin ; and they attain this size, so far as I have had opportunity of judg- 

 ing, on the pectoral and caudal fins only. Other specimens enable me to add that it 

 appears to be on these parts that they begin. When taken between the fingers, the 

 dots feel hard and gritty ; their colour ranges from dark to reddish brown. Quaere — 

 Can the tail of a fish be reproduced after having been once lost ? I consider myself 

 warranted in saying that a specimen of the above fish in my possession enables me to 

 answer this question in the affirmative. Judging from the proportions and general 

 appearance of the specimen, it must have suffered an abridgment of not less than half 

 an inch in its natural length. The figure of the body, the size of the terminating ver- 

 tebra, and a well marked scar at the base of the caudal appendage, seem to put the 

 matter beyond doubt ; yet there is a distinct and regularly formed caudal fin, which 

 however is perhaps scarcely one half the magnitude of its predecessors. — Id. 



Occurrence of the Snake Pipe-fish (Syngnathus Ophidion) at Gamrie. — I procured 

 the present specimen of this rare fish about a fortnight ago. Its length is nearly fif- 

 teen inches. It occurs to me that in addition to the position of the dorsal fin, the 

 whole of which is somewhat in advance of the middle of the body (Yarrell's ' British 

 Fishes,' p. 338), another good mark for distinguishing it from the still more rare spe- 

 cies, S. aequoreus, must be the absence, or almost entire absence of a dorsal ridge. On 

 the occipital plates there is nothing of the kind, and on the dorsal it is merely a faint 

 trace. Under a lens these plates show very beautifully. Those covering the superior 

 portion of the head are irregularly indented or punctulated, very much after a style 

 observable in certain of the ichthyolites of the old red sandstone ; while the plates on 

 the back and sides exhibit this form of ornament on their corners or angles only, their 

 central and larger portion being grooved transversely. The animal seems rather tena- 

 cious of life, and having kept it alive for some time in salt water, I was enabled at 

 intervals to mark its respirations, which were uniformly about thirty in the course of a 

 minute. — Id. 



Occurrence of the Common Sturgeon in White Cliff Bay, Isle of Wight. — On the 

 20th of March, a large example of the common sturgeon was found near Black Rock, 

 in White Cliff Bay. It seems to have got entangled among the shallows left by the 

 receding tide. The fish bore evidence of having been in a sickly state, its weight 



