SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 331 



catch with 42 common soles. Several specimens were 

 afterwards taken in Cardigan Bay. The colour of the 

 specimen in life was dark brown with numerous small 

 black spots and blotches. 



The sand sole does not appear to be at all common in 

 the Irish Sea on the East side, but there is little doubt 

 that it is often overlooked. It is common in the Bristol 

 Channel, and Mr. Holt informs me that it is commonly 

 sold by Irish fishmongers who obtain their supplies from 

 the seas between England and Ireland. It is nevertheless 

 a Southern form, extending as far south as Madeira, and 

 into the Mediterranean as far as the coast of Italy. The 

 British Islands appear to be the extreme Northern limit 

 of its distribution. 



i. Dentex vulgaris, Cuv. 



Five small fishes, which were taken by the " John 



Fell " in the trawl net, off Gimlet Rock, Pwllheli, I 



identify as the above species.* This is the first occasion 



on which this species has been taken in the Irish Sea, and 



only five previous records of the existence of the fish in 



British waters are known to me. Dentex occurs commonly 



in the Mediterranean and neighbouring parts of the 



Atlantic, but the British Islands appear to represent the 



Northern limits of its distribution, and specimens in our 



waters are to be regarded as occasional wanderers. The 



eggs of Dentex appear to be pelagic, t and it is much more 



likely that these should have been carried up into the 



Irish Sea by what appears to have been an exceptional 



northerly drift of Atlantic water during the last year, 



than that the adult fishes should have spawned in our 



area. 



:; I have to thank Mr. E. W. L. Holt for kind assistance in this 

 identification. 



f Holt, Ann. Mus. Marseille, v. 4, 1899. 



