Volume 9 - Electric Scotland

FISHES OF THE FIRTH OF FORTH AND ITS TRIBUTARIES 205
scarce in the estuary, and the few examples which have been
obtained were all immature fish.
One was captured in the trawl of the " Garland," within the
Forth, in February 1893 ;
and another, 8 inches long, was taken
at Station 6 on the 28th of July in the same year.
On the 3oth of November 1894, an example, 12 inches in length,
was again captured by the " Garland " at Station 6.
I think it is
probable that the Ray recorded by Mr. W. S. Young
("Proc.Roy.Phys. Soc. Edin.," vol.ii. pp.4i7-4i9) as"fiaia M'Coyii"
(a name I cannot find in the synonomy of any of the Raiidse) is
referable to the Sandy Ray. M'Coy, in 1841, described ("Ann.
Mag. Nat. Hist.," vol. vi. p. 405), without giving it a name, a Ray from
the coast of Ireland, which afterwards proved to belong to this
species and it is ; possible that Mr. Young considered his Forth
specimen was referable to this form, and adopted for it the specific
name of
Mi
Coyii. Mr. Young's example was 12 inches long and
6.25 broad, and was captured in the " Fluke Hole," off Pittenweem,
in May 1860.
II. ADDITIONAL RECORDS OF RARE SPECIES.
The following records supplement the information given
either in
Dr. Parnell's " Essay " or in my own previous con.tribution,
as the case may be.
PAGELLUS CENTRODONTUS, Delaroche.
PARNELL, pp. 206-209. "I" tne Firth of Forth very little is
known regarding this fish, as its
appearance there is of rare
occurrence. Two specimens, however, have been noticed in
the Firth" (p. 208).
We are not able to add much to the statements made by Dr.
Parnell more than half a century ago. The common Sea-Bream
must still be regarded as an infrequent visitor to, or rare in, the
estuary, though, according to Professor M'Intosh (" Marine Fauna
of St. Andrews,"
it
p. is 172), "not uncommon" in St. Andrews
Bay.
The following are the only additional occurrences known to
me :
Dr. John Alexander Smith records ("Ann. Nat. Hist.," 1852, vol.
ix. p. 154) the capture of an example, 18.5 inches in length,
in a trawl-net off the Isle of May, near the mouth of the Firth,
on the 29th of November 1851. Dr. Smith remarks that it
appears to be a very rare fish, or at least to be very rarely caught
in our neighbouring seas, as far as he has been able to ascertain.