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ACANTHOPTERYGII, 
Belfast market, I found, as I had done before, that the space exposed or 
otherwise between the inferior edges of the inter-opercula varied exceed- 
ingly. All the fish I looked to were M. Clielo, and I found when the in- 
ter-opercula were brought together so as to touch, that generally a larger 
portion of the space under the tongue was seen then in Yarr.’s fig. of M. 
Capito, p. 240, 2nd ed. None of the specimens that I examined displayed 
the appearance of M. Clielo with the inter-opercula touching throughout 
their base so as to conceal the space below' the tongue. 
I suspect that some of the fish called M. Capito , said to have been taken 
on the Irish coast, were judged by this fallacious character, as it seems to 
me. My M. Clielo from N. and S. of Ireland is unquestionably that of 
Cuv. and Val. as figured and described. 
Mr. James Radcliff, after perusing my notes on this fish published in 
the Annals of Nat. Hist., wrote to inform me that the mullet of New 
Zealand appeared to him to be of the same species, and that its habits 
are precisely similar to those which I had described. 
The Grey Mullet, Mugil Capito, Cuv., 
Is said to be taken on the East and South coasts. 
Col. Portlock informs me that he submitted drawings of a mullet taken 
on the coast of Down or Antrim, to Mr. Yarrell, who considered them to 
represent M. Capito, but all the specimens which have come under my 
own examination were M. Clielo, which is our common mullet of the 
North. 
In the Cork Fauna (1845), Dr. Harvey has given M. Capito as certain, 
and M. Clielo is noted with doubt. 
The Atherine or Sand-Smelt,* Atherina Presbyter, Cuv., 
Is found at certain localities, from the coast of Down, southward to that 
of Cork. 
It “is taken plentifully on the coast of Down, especially in Strangford Lough. 
Of about 40 specimens from this locality, which I examined in January last 
(1835), the average length was 6| inches; f a few were 7, and one was 1\ 
inches long. Dr. Ball informs me that the atherine is not unfrequently taken 
along with sprats at Youghal, and that, on the 14th of September last, he saw a 
shoal of them at Portmarnock, County Dublin, in a pool in the sand below high- 
water mark.” — W. T. in Zool. Proc. for 1835. 
It appears to be a very local species. Belfast market is supplied from 
a limited portion of Strangford Lough, near Portaferry, only a few being 
taken in any other part of the Lough ; and I am not aware of another 
locality for the species on the coast of Down or Antrim, save that I have 
heard of their having been taken at Newcastle, and that the stomach of a 
red-breasted merganser ( Mergus Serrator), shot in Belfast Bay, in Janu- 
ary, 1851, contained three young atherines, each about 3 inches long. Speci- 
mens were once sent to me which were stated to have been captured near 
Donaghadee, but I do not feel certain of this being correct. The atherine 
is said to be common on the coast of Wexford. — Major Walker. 
In Butty’s Dublin, and Smith’s Cork, “ The smelt ( Eperlanus ) ” is 
mentioned, but from the circumstances of the atherine being called 
smelt, and its occurrence on these coasts where the Eperlanus is not 
known, and also from the silence of both authors about a second species, 
* Also called the “ Smelt ” and “ Portaferry Chicken ” in the North, 
f In Dec., 1847, I received from Strangford Lough a specimen 7f inches in 
length. 
