354 



FISH-NOTES FROM WHITBY. 



I'HOMAS STEPHENSON. 



During the past few months the following instances of the capture 



of uncommon hshes have occurred here to my knowledge :- — 



Trachmus draco. Greater Weaver. Five instances ; two of these 

 were caught in the roads off Whitby (August 26th), and are now 

 in the ^Museum. 



Galeus canis. Common Tope. Two instances. 



Mngil chelo. Thick-lipped Gray Mullet. One instance, caught 

 in salmon nets, August 24th. Length, 20^ in.; circumference, 

 I if in. Now in the Museum. ^Ir. Martin Simpson, the senior 

 curator of the Whitby Museum, and I concur in thinking this to 

 be J/, c/ie/c?; it has the longitudinal streaks, and very large scales. 



Laemargus borealis. Greenland Shark. One, 7 ft. 6 in. long, was 

 caught in August, about twenty-five miles off Whitby, by the crew 

 of the steam fishing-boat 'Albatross,' and brought mto this port. 



Orthagoriscus mola. Short Sun-fish. One specimen, caught outside 

 the Bell Buoy, floating on the surface of the sea, September 22nd, 

 measuring from tip of dorsal to tip of anal fin, 27 J in.; length 

 from nose to outer edge of caudal fin, 19 in.; length of pectorals, 

 2 J in.; length of dorsal fin, 9 in.; length of anal fin, 8^ in.; caudal 

 fin, from body to outer edge, 3^ in.; gape, in. The stomach 

 contained nothing but a brown slimy substance, resembling 

 digested sea-weed. From the sides of this fish I took two para- 

 sites, which Dr. D:iy has pronounced to be Tristoma coccineum. 



NO TE~ ORNITHOL OGV. 



The Sooty Shearwater. — Since writing my note for your October issue 

 upon the occurrence of a pair of Sooty Shearwaters [Piiffimis grisetis) on our York- 

 shire coast, I have examined two more out of a collection of four examples of this 

 uncommon bird, which were shot on the 26th of August at Filey. I have also had 

 a newspaper sent to me containing an account of a Sooty Shearwater captured at 

 Newbiggin-by-Sea (Northumberland), also during the month of August. This I 

 omitted to mention before, as I had not actually seen the specimen in question 

 myself, nor was it shot in my own county ; now, however, the capture of four more 

 Sooty Shearwaters in Yorkshire makes the occurrence of the Newbiggin bird all 

 the more likely to be correct, and I have therefore thought well to mention it, 

 though by whom the account was written I know not. There have, therefore, 

 now been recorded about half as many Sooty Shearwaters shot during a single 

 month as have ever been met with so far as is known in Great Britain. The 

 advent of such a number of a species so comparatively little known anywhere in the 

 world is certainly remarkable and somewhat difficult to account for. It will be 

 interesting to hear reports from Heligoland and other migration observatories, 

 for it seems hardly probable that our English shores should be the only ones 

 chosen for a visit from this rara avis of the antipodes. The Filey specimens may 

 be seen atAIr. C. Helstrip's, of St. Saviour's Place, York. — ^J. Backhouse, Jun. 



[Mr. Backhouse is hardly correct in his estimate of the scarcity of this species ; 

 I know that the Sooty Shearwater occurs almost annually on the Yorkshire coast, 

 especially at Flamborough, and is very much more frequent in its occurrence than 

 the Great Shearwater. — W.E.C.] Naturalist, 



