43 
Lubbock says this has been taken within five miles of Norwich. 
“The acus major, called by some gai-fish and greenback, 
answering the figure of Rondeletius, under the name of acus prima 
species, remarkable for its quadrangular figure and verdigrease- 
green bone." — Sir T. Browne. 
In the editor’s foot-note tliis is incorreetly given as Centriscus 
scolopax, a Mediterranean fish, not likely to be caught on the 
Norfolk coasts. 
IIemiramphus Europ-eus (Yar.) Europseau halfbeak. 
Ouse below Lynn, July Gth, 18G8. I found large numbers of 
these singular fish skimming along the surface of the water with a 
wriggling motion. The day was bright, the water singularly 
smooth, and the surface Avas continually disturbed by these active 
little creatures, of which there must have been many thonsand.s, 
engaged in taking their j'rey. I cajitured a considerable number 
of them, and on examination, ff)und that their food consisted of 
small entomostraca, amongst which, in the stomach of one, were 
thirty specimens of Cnnthocamptiis stromii, Avhich 1 h.ad hitherto 
found very rare in these waters, and in one I also found a nema- 
tode worm an inch long. 
One feature of the halfbeak appears to have escaped previous 
observation, as it is not mentioned by Couch or Yarrell, and the 
published figures are equally defective. The lower jaw, which 
extends far beyond the other, is provided with a broad membrane 
on each side, giving a total width of one-eighth of an inch, thus 
aiding materially in taking its prey, as the jaw is converted into a 
sort of scoop. On being removed from the water, the membrane, 
which is covered with dark radiating spots, collapses, and the beak 
has then the acicular character seen in the plates. The membrane 
does not extend quite to the tip, but the jaw is apiculate. 
This fish had only been seen four or five times previously, and I 
have never found it again, though I have repeatedly searched for 
it at the same time of year. This is remarkable, as it is obvious, 
from the configuration of the jaw, that it is only fitted for surface 
feeding on entomostraca, and small insects which are found on 
the surface of the Avater in bright, still weather. It ought, there- 
fore, to be frequently met Avith if it be a mature form, and not, as 
has been supposed, an early state of some other species. 
