2460 Fishes. 



broke over it, a little beyond it : it discharged the spout ; but nothing showing itself, 

 undetermined in mind what it could be, or whether I should tack the ship, it all at 

 once disappeared, and, to my great astonishment, a head and neck — resembling some- 

 thing of a serpent's — made its appearance, erected about six feet above the surface of 

 the water. After taking a survey towards the vessel, it all at once vanished, leaving 

 us full of conjecture and surprise. It gives me more confidence in making the above 

 statement, as one of the seamen, whose name is Jonathan Townsend, was in the 

 main top, and saw the creature I have described, and would feel no hesitation in 

 taking an oath to it. George Sanford, Lieutenant R.N." 



[Copied from a memorandum-book of Lieut. Sanford, and communicated by Dr. 

 Scott, of Exeter. There is no date to the above statement, but it is presumed to have 

 been written about the year 1820. Lieut. Sanford then commanded a merchant ship, 

 the Lady Combermere. — E. N.~\ 



Occurrence of a supposed New Species of Riband Fish on the Coast off Culler coats. 



At the annual meeting of the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club, a paper was read, 



being the joint production of Mr. Albany Hancock and Dr. Embleton, on the speci- 

 men of riband fish (genus Gymnetrus) lately found off the coast at Cullercoats, which 

 is intended for presentation to the Museum of the Natural History Society, by its 

 proprietor, Mr. Edward Whitfield. It will probably be printed at length in the 

 Transactions of the Society, but we cannot forbear giving one or two extracts. First, 

 with regard to the general appearance of the fish. The fishermen who caught it state 

 that when first taken it was all over of a brilliant iridescent silvery hue, which soon 

 faded ; but when seen by Mr. Hancock and Dr. Embleton, all traces had disappeared 

 of the iridescence, except about the pectoral fin and head, and the colour was a silvery 

 gray, with a few dark spots and streaks towards the anterior part of the body. The 

 fish presented somewhat the form of a double-edged sword-blade, being excessively 

 compressed. Its length was 12 feet 3 inches. Immediately behind the gills it mea- 

 sured 10 inches in depth. From this point it gradually enlarged to a distance of 

 upwards of two feet further back, where it attained its greatest depth, of ll£ inches. 

 The skin was covered over with a very fine pigment-looking matter, to which the sil- 

 very colour was owing, and which came away from the skin on the slightest friction. 

 The whole surface of the skin was studded with very numerous small, distinct, and 

 irregularly-disposed tubercles of bone. The dorsal fin extends from a little way 

 above and behind the eye, uninterruptedly to within three inches of the posterior end 

 of the fish. In front of it was a tall prominent crest, directed forward, which was 

 stated by the captors to be 12 or 14 inches in length when the fish was taken ; it con- 

 sisted of twelve spiny rays. Exclusive of the crest, there are 267 rays in the dorsal 

 fin. The head is small and short ; the tongue very small, smooth and fixed. No 

 teeth were discovered. The eye was an inch and a half in diameter ; the iris of a 

 beautiful silvery white, and rather broader than the diameter of the pupil. The 

 writers, after some further minutiae, proceed to give the results of an internal exami- 

 nation of the lish. They then observe that, on referring to what they had been able 

 to find recorded respecting the genus Gymnetrus, they discovered that the figures, as 

 well as the descriptions of the external parts, were very imperfect, and the anatomy 



