1880 Fishes. 



Dr. Clarke and Mr. Yarrell (B. F. vol. ii. p. 164, 2nd edit.) figure it, in a line with 

 the last gutta of the upper row, but extends as far as the first gutta on the ventral line 

 beyond the vacant space. The gutta in all the series are — what I did not anticipate 

 — precisely in number as in Dr. Clarke's specimen, and even where he remarks that 

 one * appears to have been obliterated ' in the row of the smallest guttae extending 

 from the commencement of the anal to that of the caudal fin, it is wanting on both 

 sides of the specimen under examination. See Dr. Clarke's paper, p. 23, and Yarrell, 

 p. 164, for a detailed notice of these gutta?. Some writers on the argentine — as Dr. 

 Clarke at p. 23, and Mr. Yarrell at p. 25 of the same volume, in his remarks on that 

 gentleman's communication — seem inclined to believe that among the very few exam- 

 ples of this fish obtained on the British coasts, two species have been taken. The anal 

 fin certainly is very short in Pennant's figure, but the author himself is silent respect- 

 ing the fin and its number of rays, so that we have only the engraving on which to 

 form a judgment. By making fair allowance for the injury that may have occurred 

 to the very delicate and fragile fins of this species, and for a due want of critical accu- 

 racy in the draughtsman and engraver, there is not, in my opinion, sufficient reason 

 for believing that the argentines hitherto noticed as taken in the British seas were of 

 more than one species, nor, judging from Nillson's description of the specimen taken 

 on the coast of Norway, do I see reason for considering it as distinct. This author 

 refers Pennant's fish to his Scopelus borealis." — W. Thompson, in Ann. and Mag. Nat. 

 Hist. xx. p. 171. 



Description of a new Ray. — " A few days ago Mr. Whiteside found on the shore at 

 Rapid Bay the carcass of a fish of a most extraordinary description. It was too large 

 for him to drag away whole, and was also in a very putrid state. He preserved, how- 

 ever, a part of its head and a part of one flapper, which we have seen. These and the 

 rest we will describe in the best way we can from his description, premising that Mr. 

 Whiteside has made arrangements for the remainder of the fish being brought up to a 

 neighbouring station, and the bones preserved. The creature is a flat fish, with a head 

 shaped something like that of a fox, near the back on each side of which large eyes 

 protrude. The nostrils and mouth are directly underneath. The length of the head 

 to the tip of the nose is about nine inches, and its breadth behind the eyes one foot. 

 The body is about three feet long by one broad, and has on each side a flapper of about 

 two feet long by a foot and a half broad. From the body proceeds a tail four feet in 

 length, on each side of which, at its junction with the body, springs a bony substance, 

 eighteen inches long, terminating in what resembles the bowl of a ladle. The tail is 

 armed all along, on each side, with strong ivory teeth, set on with large roots, like the 

 thorns of a rose ; and within the flappers are treble rows of ivory teeth, resembling 

 fish-hooks, each extremely sharp and barbed at the point. These we saw. But the 

 most curious part we have yet to describe. It is the mouth, which measures five 

 inches across, and has two lips, if they may be so called, each of which is covered with 

 round sharp teeth, of about a quarter of an inch long. On each are twelve rows of 

 about thirty-six teeth. Mr, Whiteside has not met with any one to whom the species 

 of fish was known ; but it seems pretty clear to us that it lives upon shell-fish, which 

 its remarkable teeth would enable it to grind up, while the spikes on the tail and flap- 

 pers would serve to attach it firmly to the sea-weeds, which abound in the part where 

 it was found, and the ladle-like paws would probably be used to tear the shell-fish 

 from the rocks and collect them for its food. The appearance of its outer skin is ex- 

 actly that of a light brown New Zealand mat ; the threads and cross stitches may be 



