﻿FISHES. 
  

  

  255 
  

  

  At 
  page 
  291, 
  Fauna 
  of 
  Sutherland, 
  the 
  authors 
  say: 
  "Mr. 
  

   Peach 
  informs 
  us 
  he 
  has 
  caught 
  the 
  Smelt 
  when 
  fishing 
  for 
  

   sillocks," 
  but 
  the 
  locality 
  is 
  not 
  stated, 
  although 
  no 
  doubt 
  

   it 
  is 
  somewhere 
  within 
  the 
  area 
  covered 
  by 
  their 
  work. 
  

  

  In 
  Olsen's 
  Piscatorial 
  Atlas, 
  the 
  Moray 
  Firth 
  is 
  given 
  as 
  

   a 
  spawning 
  ground 
  of 
  the 
  Smelt. 
  On 
  June 
  5th, 
  1893, 
  two 
  

   specimens 
  were 
  caught 
  by 
  trawl 
  off 
  the 
  Pentland 
  Skerries, 
  

   and 
  were 
  brought 
  into 
  Aberdeen 
  Market. 
  

  

  Genus 
  THYMALLUS, 
  Cuvier. 
  

  

  [Thymallus 
  vulgaris, 
  Miss. 
  Grayling. 
  

  

  Recorded 
  as 
  local 
  by 
  Howden, 
  but 
  he 
  gives 
  no 
  indication 
  

   as 
  to 
  where 
  caught 
  or 
  seen.] 
  

  

  Genus 
  ARGENTINA, 
  Artedi. 
  

  

  Argentina 
  sphyraena, 
  Linn. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  Banffshire 
  Journal 
  for 
  December 
  9th, 
  1879, 
  Edward 
  

   gave 
  a 
  long 
  and 
  very 
  minute 
  description 
  of 
  this 
  species, 
  

   under 
  the 
  heading 
  " 
  A 
  strange 
  fish 
  — 
  What 
  is 
  it 
  ? 
  " 
  Subse- 
  

   quently 
  there 
  appeared 
  in 
  the 
  same 
  journal 
  a 
  paragraph 
  with 
  

   this 
  heading, 
  " 
  A 
  Rare 
  Piscis." 
  " 
  We 
  some 
  time 
  ago 
  noticed 
  

   the 
  capture 
  of 
  a 
  strange 
  fish 
  at 
  Cullen, 
  with 
  the 
  query 
  ' 
  What 
  

   is 
  it 
  ? 
  ' 
  The 
  problem, 
  we 
  are 
  glad 
  to 
  say, 
  is 
  now 
  solved. 
  Dr. 
  

   Gunther, 
  of 
  the 
  British 
  Museum, 
  from 
  the 
  description, 
  

   suggested 
  that 
  it 
  was 
  a 
  specimen 
  of 
  the 
  Argentina 
  silus, 
  a 
  

   fish 
  entirely 
  new 
  to 
  Britain. 
  This 
  has 
  now, 
  through 
  the 
  

   kindness 
  of 
  Professors 
  Trail 
  and 
  Ewart, 
  of 
  Aberdeen, 
  been 
  

   confirmed." 
  

  

  Edward 
  eventually 
  described 
  the 
  specimen 
  in 
  the 
  Journal 
  

   of 
  the 
  Linnean 
  Society, 
  vol. 
  xv., 
  p. 
  334 
  (1881), 
  as 
  Argentina 
  

   silus. 
  Dr. 
  Day, 
  however, 
  in 
  his 
  History 
  of 
  British 
  Fishes, 
  

   vol. 
  ii. 
  p. 
  136, 
  in 
  speaking 
  of 
  Argentina 
  sphyrcena 
  includes 
  

   Edward's 
  sihis, 
  and 
  does 
  not 
  admit 
  it 
  to 
  be 
  different 
  from 
  

   Sphyrcena 
  parva 
  of 
  Rondelet, 
  the 
  Argentine 
  ou 
  peis-argent 
  of 
  

   Duhamel, 
  the 
  Argentina 
  sphyrcena 
  of 
  Linneas, 
  the 
  Osmerus 
  

   hebridicus 
  of 
  Yarrell, 
  and 
  the 
  Hebridal 
  smelt 
  of 
  Couch 
  — 
  all 
  

   of 
  which 
  are 
  the 
  same 
  fish 
  under 
  different 
  names. 
  

  

  R 
  2 
  

  

  