470 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



COMMON SKATE. 



Raja batis, L. 



This Skate is well known to all our fishermen. In Morecambe 

 Bay it is called the ' Bluett/ a name that obtains some currency 

 also among the fishermen of the English Solway. A good many 

 Skates are taken with lines off Ravenglass and Whitehaven in 

 the winter-time. The numbers of this species are considered to 

 have shown some falling off of late years, large examples having 

 been taken less frequently than formerly. 



LONG-NOSED SKATE. 



Raja vomer, Fries. 



Joseph Farren tells me that he sometimes takes a large Skate, 

 with pointed bill, off Eavenglass in the winter-time, when 

 fishing with long lines ; but since I asked him to send me a 

 specimen he has taken none. The only example that Mr. W. 

 Nicol ever saw taken in the waters of the English Solway was 

 caught in a stake-net set close to the Grune Point. The fish came 

 up the Solway in a strong current, the force of which, together 

 with its weight — 30 lbs. — carried the Skate partly through the 

 net, cutting a gap in the net of about a foot. This example 

 agreed exactly with the figure of this species given by Couch. 



Order GANOIDEI. Fam. AGIPENSERID^. 



STURGEON. 



Acipenser sturio, L. 



Sturgeon have long been recognised as summer visitors to the 

 Solway Firth. When William de Brus granted a fishery at 

 Horduf to the monks of Holmcoltram, he reserved to himself 

 and his heirs any Sturgeon or Whale (le graspes) that they 

 might secure. 1 The owners of the fisheries of the English 

 Solway retained their rights to Sturgeon caught within their 

 fisheries until they found it more profitable to forego their 

 privileges — in the present century. The Sturgeon is not, in 

 1 Documents relating to Scotland, vol. i. p. 107. 



