Sir Thomas Browne, with his usual accuracy, notes the variation 
in form which occurs in this species : — “ Some have been taken 
at Yarmouth, and more in the Great Ouse, but their heads are not 
so sharp as rej)resented in the icons of Bondeletius and Johnstonus.” 
Couch, s]Deaking of the supposed two kinds of sturgeon, says : — 
“ The broad-headed and narrow-snouted varieties in their extreme 
divergence differ greatly, and the latter appears to be the more 
numerous of the two ; but there has been found every gradation of 
form among them.” — Yol. i, p. 159. 
The Lord of the manor of Hunstanton claims as a royalty all 
sturgeons caught in Lynn Avaters, but this claim is not recognized 
by the Lynn authorities. The largest specimens of which I have 
any note are — one caught off Yarmouth, Oct. 10th, 1871, of 
which Mr. Southwell gives the folloAving measurements. Length, 
7 ft. 10 in. ; girth, 4G inches ; weigiit, 392 lbs. ; and one recorded 
by Mr. Gunn, in the “Zoologist,” 1866, taken m Holkham Bay, 
was 8 ft. 6 in. long, and weighed 210 lbs. Another taken off the 
Suffolk coast, was 12 ft. 2 in. long, aiid Aveighed only 156 lbs. 
SUB-CLASS IV. — CHOHDKOPTERYGII. 
Order II. — Plagiostomata. Pam. I. — CnARCHARiiDiE. 
Carcharius glauous (CuA^) Blue Shark. 
Yarmouth. — P. 
I have no authentic record of this fish being taken in the 
Estuary, and suspect that the toper is sometimes mistaken for it. 
Thus, tAvo specimens in the AVisbeach Museum, said to be blue 
sharks are in reality topers. Mr. T. E. Gunn records one speci- 
men stranded on the beach at Yarmouth, Dec. 19th, 1866, and 
gives the folloAving measurements : — Total length 5 ft. 4 in. ; 
length of head, 10| in. ; girth to first dorsal, 1 ft. 7 in. 
These might, in the absence of other characters, apply equally to 
the tope. 
Mr. Hele, of Aldeburgh, Suffolk, records the capture of one at 
that place. It Avas carefully verified by him. 
Canis galeus (BONAPARTE.) Tope. 
Mr. Cresswell has caught large numbers Avith night lines, off 
Hunstanton. In the years 1872 — 3, he took more than a hundred. 
