3488 Fishes. 



The Piked Dog-fish, Acanthias vulgaris. (Cu-maire, i. e. Sea-dog, 

 Gobag, Bioarach,-Beerach). Most abundant in the Firth, and very 

 destructive to the ordinary lines, and especially to the herring-nets. 



The Greenland Shark, Scymnus borealis. At Trouphead, (Zool. 

 3058). 



The Spinous Shark, Echinorhinus spinosus. At Gamrie, (Zool. 

 3057). 



The Sharp-nosed Ray, Raia oxyrhynchus. "White Skate." (Scad,- 

 Skacht). 



The Skate, Raia Batis. " Blue or common Skate." 



The Thornback, Raia clavata. 



The Starry Ray, Raia radiata. 



The fishermen at Lossiemouth enumerate three kinds of skate : — 

 the common or "blue" skate, which they think the best and largest, is 

 most abundant in March, and in condition at that season, after which, 

 having deposited their ova, they deteriorate ; the " thornbacks " con- 

 tinue good until May, but are at no time so much esteemed as the blue 

 skate ; the " white " skate is the rarest of the three. Some of them 

 also describe a ray which they call " Hornies " (horned or full of 

 spines ?), about 4 or 5 inches broad, round in shape, with two black 

 spots on the back, and both back and belly full of * spikes" (spines); 

 when taken into the boat they contract themselves into a lump. This 

 is probably the " Homelyn Ray " of Yarrell (ii. 570), or the " Sandy 

 Ray," (Id. 574). 



The Lamprey, Petromyzon marinus. A fine specimen, 2 feet 9 

 inches in length, was obtained from Lossiemouth in February, 1849. 

 The fishermen have never caught the lamprey with a bait ; but they 

 have seen it fix itself by its mouth on a board that has not been tarred, 

 such as a new rudder, and when thus seen are taken by a basket, or 

 " skoo." 



The Lampern, Petromyzon fluviatilis. "The Lamper Eel." Often 

 met with in the Spey, Lossie, &c. 



The Pride, Ammocoetes branchialis. Discovered in the Lossie, near 

 Woodside, by Alexander Robertson, Esq., in 1850. 



The Myxine, Gastrobranchus coecus. Common. One from a cod- 

 fish, January, 1849; it measured 14 inches in length, and seemed to 

 have been eaten by the cod, as it was partially dissolved by the action 

 of the stomach and gastric juice. This is the fish which the fisher- 

 men call the "Eeliart;" it is also the "Pousion Ram per of the Moray 

 Firth,"— Edinburgh Witness, February 2, 1849, 



