Fishes. 2397 



Eel fascinated by a Snake. — " On approaching an almost dry drain, I saw a snake 

 slowly extending his coils, raising his head, and stedfastly gazing on what I saw to 

 be an eel of about a foot in length. The eel was directly opposed to the snake, and 

 glance seemed to meet glance, when the snake, having gained the requisite proximity, 

 darted on the eel and caught it about an inch behind the head, and carried it off; 

 but the captor was soon himself the captive, for with a blow on his head I secured 

 both." — ' Journal of the Indian Archipelago.' 



Occurrence of the Opah or King-fish on the Yorkshire Coast. — My attention was 

 attracted the other day, in passing through one of the streets of this town, by a flaming 

 advertisement, setting forth that the most wonderful " monster of the deep " was being 

 " exhibited within, at the small charge of two-pence." I was of course drawn in 

 among the eager sight-seers, thinking it was nothing less than the veritable sea- 

 serpent, which of late has caused so much discussion, and has been one of the chief 

 wonders, second only to the golden discoveries in California. My expectations were, 

 however, not gratified by viewing this monster, but found instead a fine specimen of 

 the opah (Zeus imperialis), weighing about 80 fbs., which had been caught the day 

 before, off Flambro' Head, in a fishing-net. It certainly was the most beautiful fish 

 I ever beheld : the coral-red fins and tail, and the reddish coloured and glittering 

 scales, made it a really magnificent object. I believe this fish is very rare on our 

 coast, and therefore thought its occurrence worthy of being noted. — G. Norman; 

 Hull, February 28, 1849. 



Reply to Mr. Newmans Inquiries respecting the Bones of the Stronsa Animal. — 

 Seeing your queries (Zool. 2358) regarding the bones of an animal cast on shore at 

 Stronsa, described by Dr. Barclay in the ' Memoirs of the Wernerian Society,' — after 

 some little trouble I have been able to answer most of these questions. 



1. How were the bones described by Dr. Barclay obtained? — It will be seen in 

 the ' Wernerian Memoirs ' (vol. i. p. 438), that George Sherar, one of those who saw 

 the animal, mentions that he brought away, to deliver to Mr. Laing (the Scotch his- 

 torian), the skull, two joints of one of the largest limbs next the head, with different 

 parts of the back-bone, besides the bones that were formerly sent in. Mr. Laing, I 

 suppose, forwarded them to Dr. Barclay. 



2. What is the evidence that they belonged to one animal ? — The answer to this 

 is simply that the aforesaid George Sherar took them from the same animal. 



3. Where are these bones preserved ? 4. What is their present state ? — Three of 

 the vertebrae are in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, in a 

 dried state, and are 6 inches in diameter ; and four in the University Natural History 

 Museum, preserved in spirits, and are still articulated to each other, whereas the 

 other three are separate. 



5. Has the skull ever been denuded of skin, muscle, &c. ? 6. Has it ever been 

 examined by a competent comparative anatomist ? and, if so, what opinion has he 

 pronounced on it? — This is answered by the annoying fact that the skull has not 

 been preserved. 



On inquiring of Professor Goodsir with regard to the vertebra?, he tells me he has 

 examined them, and that they are undoubtedly those of a shark (Squalus maximus), 

 as are the skull, sternum and scapulae, figured in the ' Wernerian Memoirs,' p. 418. 



We would naturally suppose that the affidavits of those who saw this extraordinary 

 animal would be of some avail ; but on closer inspection even these will be found to 

 have little weight in the argument. In the first place it is unfortunate that no well- 

 VII K 



