192 
MALACOPTERYGII. 
Specific characters . — Couchia argenteola. Upper jaw the longer, 5 cirri, four on 
the upper, one on the lower, jaw ; ventrals moderate (from | to | the length of 
the head), and of a whitish colour ; sides silvery. 
At a meeting of the Dublin Natural History Society, March, 1851, Mr. 
Andrews made the following remarks on this species : — 
“ Among the few specimens presented to your notice this evening is one that 
appears to be extremely rare, and, as far as I am at present aware, the first record 
of its capture on the Irish coast— the Motella glauca, or, as it is provincially termed 
on the Cornish coast, ‘ the Mackerel Midge.’ I obtained this beautiful little 
fish in July last, off Ventry Harbour, Dingle Bay. Several specimens were 
brought up in 27 fathoms water, adhering to the trawl-net, the soundings very 
fine soft sand. With it I collected five specimens of Gobius minutus and Gobius 
bipunctatus, showing the depth of water that these fish frequent, as well as the 
shoal er grounds of a hai’bour. The mackerel midge, as the name implies, is 
exceedingly minute in size, being scarcely 1£ inch in length, yet perfect in its 
proportions, and characteristic of the true Motella or rockling. It possesses four 
pointed barbules in the upper jaw, one in the lower, its anterior dorsal fin im- 
perfectly defined, in other details similar to the rockling. The most striking 
feature is the extreme beauty of its colouring when captured alive, the shades of 
the sides and back being ultramarine and purplish-green, the belly silvery. 
It quickly dies, and these colours soon fade to a dull bluish-green, or a leaden 
hue. It has been noted of a very pretty little species peculiar to the Mediter- 
ranean, the Motella fusca, that in the living state its appearance is of a fine 
chesnut colour, but after death changes to a dull yellow. The account given in 
the most recent work on British Ichthyology, Yarrell, of the Motella glauca , is 
from the MS. of Mr. Couch, who observes that it has been found abundantly 
on the Cornish coast, yet that some summers it does not appear.” 
Ciliata glauca , or Coitchia minor. — It is identical in species with the 
specimens obtained by me in Strangford Lough in the summer of 1838, 
and described under the name of Couchia minor in the' 2nd vol. of the 
Ann. N. H.* 
Couchia minor. Thomp. Ann. vol. ii. p. 408. — I leave for further observ- 
ation to throw additional light upon. Greater experience leads me to 
believe that the individuals described may have been too young to 
present the character of the adult fish ; still the notes may be worth re- 
printing. 
Motella glauca.— My fish is marked in a London note as identical with 
Yarrell’s specimen of Ciliata glauca. April, 1846, Mr. Yarrell gave me a 
specimen of Couch’s C. glauca, with which at a superficial view (i. e. 
without resorting to a lens) my fish from Strangford is identical. The 
greater comparative length of . its P. fins I consider only marks its juve- 
nility. f 
In June 22nd, 1844, Mr. Hyndman took, floating on the surface in the 
Kyles of Bute, a fish identical with my C. minor, in P. fins, size, &c. 
The Plaice, Platessa vulgaris, Cuv., 
Is abundant around the coast; — in the North it is by far the most com- 
mon species of flat-fish, and consequently the cheapest, but it is neverthe- 
less in general estimation for the table. 
* See my Report, p. 400. 
f As the last number of the Annals completed a volume, it is now too late to 
notice in its ordinary place a typographical error there committed. I take the 
opportunity of correcting it. At p. 424, under references to pi. 16, “ for Couchia 
glauca, read Fig. 3, Motella guinguecirrata.” — Ann. N. H. vol. iii. 
