4596 



Fishes. 



whole was covered with a black, smooth and leathery skin. Mr. Jenyns, in his specific 

 characters of the common tunny, says (p. 362, ' Manual Brit. Vert. Animals '), the 

 pectoral is " contained five times and a half in the entire length :" if this measure be 

 correct, and not found to vary as the fish becomes aged, the entire length of the Tees 

 fish would have been just about 5 feet 9 inches. I cannot, however, but think that 

 this measure is liable to some variation, because Pennant's fish was 7 feet 10 inches 

 long, or 2 feet 1 inch longer than the former, whilst the spread of the caudal crescent 

 of the Tees fish was l£ inch wider than Pennant's These characters seem to me to 

 require further investigation, which perhaps can only be effected in the Mediterranean, 

 as in our own seas the tunny is so rare. The large scale, or rather osseous plate, which 

 was taken from the corselet on the thorax of the Tees specimeu, proved on measuring 

 it to be an oval, a little more than If inch in length by \\ inch in width ; but the 

 small scales that are imbedded under the external leathery skin of the back are 

 rounder, and many averaged nearly f ths of an inch in diameter. The disposition of 

 these smaller scales and the great strength of the coating itself are very remarkable ; 

 and as I could find no description of them in any work on Ichthyology, I gave a brief 

 account of them in a short communication which I made to the Linnean Society, on 

 the 5th of December, 1854, since which time I have had the satisfaction of thoroughly 

 identifying the species. I may observe that the only time I have seen a freshly caught 

 and perfect tunny was in the month of June, at Palermo, when two able-bodied fish- 

 ermen were carrying it on their right shoulders, the one walking a few feet before the 

 other; but I had not then an opportunity of visiting a Tonnara and witnessing the 

 method of catching this large and most useful fish. — John Hogg ; Norton, Stockton- 

 on-Tees, January 10, 1855. 



Supposed New Species of Flounder. — Having lately obtained in this neighbourhood 



several specimens of a Platessa (floun- 

 der) which differs in many respects 

 from the common flesus, I send a 

 slight sketch of it. Very dark brown 

 (almost black) on both sides. The 

 length of the head, as to the whole 

 length of the fish, is as two to nine; 

 the pectoral, ventral and caudal fins 

 are considerably longer than in the 

 same sized specimens of Platessa fle- 

 sus ; but the greatest peculiarity is the 

 deep notch, in the dorsal line, imme- 

 diately behind the eye. The fin-rays 

 in number are— D. 58; P. 10; V. 6; 

 A. 41 ; C. 18. In all other respects 

 it is similar to the common flounder. 

 The largest specimen is about 6 inches 

 long. I should feel greatly obliged if any of the correspondents of the 'Zoologist' 

 would supply me with duplicates of recent and fossil fishes' ear-bones. — Edmund 

 Thomas Higgins ; Birkenhead, December 26, 1854. 



White Specimen of the Flounder (Platessa flesus). — In his invaluable work on 

 British Fishes, Mr. Yarrell remarks, " Varieties of the flounder occur much more 

 commonly than those of any other species of flat-fish. I have before me, while now 



