182 



The Museum Gazette 



collecting it within an area of more than 200 feet. This 

 " ugly fish r>1 is often found underneath seaweeds or on muddy 

 shores, hidden by a stone. It is long for its breadth and 

 height, has a flat head, prominent eyes, and there are two 

 feelers or barbs on the upper jaw, and one on the lower. It 

 is about a foot or fourteen inches in length, and the colour 

 is rather uniform, the back and sides being chestnut-brown. 

 But the fish is often found in deeper water, and then it is of 

 a brighter and yellow-red tint with spots." 



Many species of the Goby tribe, the commonest being the 

 Rock Goby, or Miller's Thumb, about six inches long, grey- 

 brown with black spots. It frequents high rock-pools com- 

 municating with the sea only in very high tides and stormy 

 weather. 



The curious Pipe-Fishes or Sea-Adders, and the equally 

 remarkable Sea-Horses. Excepting the Worm Pipe-Fish, 

 the majority of these do not live near the shore. 



The purse-like capsules (often erroneously spoken of as 

 "eggs") are receptacles for the eggs of various species of 

 sharks and rays. The purses of the sharks are deposited in 

 autumn, those of the skates in early summer. The more 

 familiar are those of the Spotted Dogfish or " Nurse " 

 (Scyllium catulus), the Lesser Spotted Dogfish or " Row- 

 hound " (Scyllium canictila), the Common Skate (Rata batis) y 

 Thornback or " Maid " (Rata clavata). 



Fish, as a rule, are not very suitable objects for preservation 

 and are best studied on the fishmonger's slab or at the sea- 

 side market. In such a Museum as is here contemplated 

 coloured plates must for the most part suffice. A good series 

 may be obtained from the " Royal Natural History." 



III. Flowering Plants. — Our collection displays dried 

 specimens, also coloured illustrations of phanerogams taken 

 from the first edition of u Sowerby's Botany." The latter 

 are arranged in swing frames, and include all the species 



1 " The Seashore," p. 251. 



