June, 1915. 



"iN 30 m 



Tlie Irish Naturalist. 



97 



THE LONG-FINNED BREAM 

 (Brama longipinnis, Lowe). 



An addition to the Britannic Fauna, 

 by r. f. scharff, b.sc, f.l.s. 

 (Plate i.) 



On the i8th of May last year while a fisherman off the 

 west coast of Valencia Island, Co. Kerry, lifted his lobster - 

 pots, he noticed a large fish swimming on the surface of 

 the sea near by. He promptly gaffed it and dragged it ' 

 into his boat. When he landed on the island he showed 

 his prize to Miss M. J. Delap, whose skill and judgment in 

 zoological matters is well known in Valencia. She at once 

 proclaimed the fish to be something quite peculiar and 

 secured the specimen, which she dispatched to the National 

 Museum of Ireland. 



On the arrival of the fish in Dubhn it was examined by 

 Miss J. Stephens, who pronounced it to be new to the 

 Irish fauna. It was evidently a Bream allied to Ray's 

 Bream, and it seemed to agree best with the description 

 given by Lowe (Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1843) of a fish 

 taken near Madeira. Lowe named this fish Branix longi- 

 pinnis, and most of his type specimens were deposited in 

 the British Museum. Miss Stephens thought it desirable 

 to compare the Irish specimen with the type in order to 

 make sure of the correct identification. With the Depart- 

 ment's sanction, I recently paid a visit to the British 

 Museum, and seized the opportunity of taking the Bream 

 to London. 



Mr. Regan, whom I consulted, informed me that un- 

 fortunately the type from Madeira does not exist any more, 

 not being among the Lowe collection which was deposited 

 in the British Museum. On the other hand, Mr. Regan 

 showed me the type specimen of Johnson's Brama princeps. 



