Fishes. 3455 



yet found in the waters of the Moray Firth, is laid before its readers. 

 Mr. YarreU's invaluable ' History ' (2nd edition) is followed in the 

 order and nomenclature adopted in this list. After the English and 

 scientific names of the species, there are given — as far as they can be 

 ascertained — the provincial names, Saxon and Celtic. The remarks 

 that follow, as to the frequency, habits, &c. of the several species, un- 

 less when otherwise stated, record what has been observed upon the 

 south-western shore of the Firth, or have been supplied by fishermen 

 residing there. 



The Moray Firth, the supposed " Sinus Vararis " of Ptolemy, lies 

 on the north-eastern extremity of Scotland, and in shape and size may 

 be regarded as an equilateral triangle, having Peterhead, Inverness, 

 and Duncansbay-head at its angles, distant from each other nearly 

 100 miles. Its geographical boundaries may be described as extend- 

 ing from 2° to 4° West longitude, and from 57j° to 58J° North lati- 

 tude. The Dornoch, Cromarty, and Beauly Firths, with their ample 

 waters, lie on the north-west side of the Moray Firth, and form subor- 

 dinate bays or arms of it ; but each one of them in itself a fertile field 

 for the study of marine Zoology. The southern shore, to which this 

 list more particularly refers, runs almost due East from Inverness to 

 Peterhead ; but, although full of little creeks or inlets, it has no such 

 bay as any of those three to beautify or vary its coast-line, or to afford 

 shelter to the smallest craft overtaken in a northern storm. On this 

 southern coast of the Moray Firth, the shore is either fringed with 

 hills of the purest sand, lined by the gravelly beach, broken in upon 

 by the low-lying rocks, or walled up for miles by the bold perpendi- 

 cular headland. Compared with the north-western boundary, and 

 with most other coast-lines of the same length, the south side of the 

 Moray Firth is strikingly destitute of the flat muddy shore, with its 

 half-sunken rocks and boulders, at once so accessible and so rich 

 in objects that arrest the attention of the naturalist. This peculia- 

 rity may in some measure be accounted for by the powerful currents 

 (exciting the surprise and trying the skill of experienced engineers) 

 that set in on this side of the Firth, where their force is manifested by 

 the constant shifting of its numerous banks of sand, and at times by 

 the transporting in a westerly direction, and raising into beaches many 

 feet high, the masses of debris thrown out from the newly excavated 

 harbour, as at Stotfield head, or from the sandstone quarries, as at 

 Covesea. These powerful currents, so marked in the Moray Firth, 

 may forbid the appearance of those animals that frequent the still or 

 muddy waters of other arms of the sea, and may with some probabi- 



