Marine Zoology. 2519 



taken place ; or in some other ingenious manner account for their occurrence in room 

 of haddocks, — a deception which procures an immediate sale, and at the time yields 

 a good profit. The last wrasse which was added to my collection was a large and 

 beautiful specimen of L. maculatus, — a female full of roe in a forward state : the 

 date on the label affixed to it is October 24th, on which day a number were procured 

 from two boats usually employed in attending crab-cages by the side of the rocks. 

 Most of them were females in the same condition as the one selected, thus showing 

 that no definite season can be named for the spawning. In the South of England it 

 takes place in April ; but Dr. Parnell thinks that in Scotland it may be later. Large 

 masses of roe, exact in resemblance to that of the ballan wrasse, are washed on the 

 sands at Dunbar in July and August ; but even amidst these observations I could 

 hardly venture a decision on the subject. 



The wolf-fish (Anarrhicus lupus) is much detested by the fishermen, as it too often 

 exceeds in abundance the more profitable fishes. It is not uncommon to find thirty 

 of these savage-looking animals in one boat, some of them of great size ; and the 

 mutilated condition they arrive in bespeaks at once the extent of the fisher's dislike, 

 and the heavy blows Avhich have been dealt to deprive them of life. Like the gray 

 and red gurnards, the wolf-fish is skinned and made use of as food, which, according 

 to the authority of those who have enjoyed the dish, is of a quality that would please 

 even fastidious tastes. If this fish should be opened in the hope of finding the small 

 shells and Crustacea on which it feeds, disappointment is invariably the result : its 

 large grinders having crushed to pieces all its prey, nothing can be found but the 

 mangled remains of a few fishes, and, in all instances, large quantities of the little 

 variegated pecten shells reduced to sand. The common plaice (Platessa vulgaris) 

 offers a better reward on dissection : in two average-sized individuals I have found 

 upwards of two hundred shells, all of one species, Pecten fusio. The dab (Platessa 

 limanda) furnishes the same shell in equal numbers, together with another pretty 

 small pecten (P. lavis). Almost every fish brought to land is worthy of more than 

 external examination by the naturalist ; but the common cod and the skate (Raia 

 batis) are above all others the most fertile subjects : the former yields many concholo- 

 gical specimens, while in the latter may sometimes be found minute fishes and Ra- 

 diata which are not otherwise easily obtained. The voracity of the cod is well known ; 

 nothing in the wide ocean, whether resting at the bottom or floating on the surface, 

 eomes amiss to its ravenous appetite : shells, crustaceans, fishes, annelides and zoo- 

 phytes, all find a grave in its capacious stomach. Nor do more highly organized 

 forms escape : two instances have occurred within my memory where adult specimens 

 of the common guillemot have been found swallowed entire. Throughout the winter 

 season one of the most brilliant and iridescent sea-worms of our Scottish coasts, 

 Aphrodita aculeata, forms its choice morsels ; and, from the greater number of cods 

 which are killed, these curious creatures can be taken in a good state for preserving. 



I have to record the capture of the greater weever (Trachinus draco), a fish rare 

 in Scotland, and, as far as I am aware, new to the Frith of Forth. It was found in 

 the herring nets on the 14th of August, near the Bass Rock; and all the fishermen of 

 the shore affirmed they had not before seen a fish like it. The other species in the 

 genus Trachinus (T. vipera) is common in shallow water over Tyne sands, about a 

 mile west from the town. 



No one who daily visits the sea-rocks can foil to observe the profuse tenantry of 

 the common Nereis in every channeled pool : not a fiat stone can be upturned without 



