Species 2.-The Shorter Pipe-Fish.

Acus Aristotelis seu secunda, Wil. Icth. 150. Raii Syn. Pisc. 47. Syngnathus acus, Lin. Sys. 416. Brit. Zool. 108, tab. 6.

THIS species is still more frequent than the former, and is found of many sizes, from six inches to fifteen and a half, from one of which last dimensions I shall give the following measures and description.

The snout, from the nose to the eye, an inch and a half; to the covers of the gills something more than two; to the beginning of the back-fin six inches and a half; the back-fin two inches long; from the end of it to the tail seven inches and a half.

The snout is pretty much like that of the former species ; the gills not open below as in other fish, but on each side of the neck is an aperture pointing upwards; the pectoral fins are placed much as in other fishes.

The body, from the head to the vent, is heptangular, from thence to the end of the back-fin hexangular; from the end of the back-fin to that of the tail, quadrangular; the fins are five in number, viz. the two pectoral; the single back-fin; the tail, which in this is finned, not, as in the last, pointed; a very minute anal fin, consisting of a single ray (my specimens were all dry, so that I cannot be positive of the rays, but of the existence of the fin I am certain, as it was in them all), about an eighth of an inch long.

The whole body is covered with strong crusts, prettily radiated from a centre; the number of these, from the pectoral fin to the tail fin, sixty-five.

The back of a large specimen was brown spotted, the belly whitish; that of a smaller, light brown, the belly white.

Species 3.-The Little Pipe-Fish.

Acui Aristotelis congener pisciculus, pueris Cornubiensibus Sea Adder; acus lumbriciformis, aut serpentinus, Wil. Icth. 160. Raii Syn. Pisc. Syngnathus ophidion, Lin. Sys. 417. Brit. Zool. 109, tab. 6, fig. 3.

THIS is the smallest of the genus, and found very frequently under stones in the space between high and low watermark; liker the first than the second species, only the nose is shorter, and turns more up; the fins are the same number in both, but the body of this is not covered with crusts, as in the former, but with a skin; the colour of those I have seen was a deep olive green.

These needle fishes are of no use here; they are never eaten, and the coat of mail wherewith they are covered hinders them from being made bait, for no fish will be ready to snap at a creature so well defended.

ADDENDUM.

The Fishing-Frog.

Brit. Zool. 93.

THIS species is sometimes cast on shore at Foula, but no

where else (that I can hear) among these islands.

DIVISION III.-FISHES FURNISHED WITH HARD

BONES.

These are divided into Apodal, Jugular, Thoracic, and Abdominal, which names are taken from the want or situation of the belly-fins.

1. Apodal.-Belly-Fins wanting.

GENUS IX. THE EEL.

Gen. Char-Body long, slender, and slippery; nostrils tubular; back, anal, and tail fins united; aperture to the gills small, and placed behind the pectoral fins; ten branchiostegous rays.

Species 1.-The Common Eel.

The Eel, Wil. Pisc. 109. Raii Syn. Pisc. 37. Muræna Anguilla, Lin. Sys. 426. Brit. Zool. III. 111.

EELS are very common in all our lochs, burns, and in the sea. They are found in many of our lochs, especially where no fish else are, and even in those whose efflux into the sea is over such precipices as to allow of no passage for any living thing, which puzzles many of our country sages to account for their getting there; and indeed this is no easy task, if we do not consider the manners of the eel; how difficult it is to

be retained in the claws, or even the stomachs, of birds which prey on it; how tenacious of life it is, which makes it capable of being carried a great way without being the worse; and if dropped, its ability in this case to seek out a proper habitation for itself.

The mind of man, once set upon scrutinising any particular, can ill bear to be baffled, but must solve it in some manner, though frequently false; no wonder then there have been so many odd opinions, relative to the furnishing the remoter lakes with eels. Our rural philosophers, not perhaps so attentive to every one of the eel's faculties, have found out a method of supplying all the lakes in the world with eels, by a very easy expence:-nothing more than throwing into the water a few hairs of a stallion, and of which they tell us all these eels come, which are found in these inaccessible places. But ask reasons for thinking so,-all dumb!

Eels seldom are seen here of any great bulk; two feet and a half is the largest I have seen, but few even of that size. At particular times of the year, they may be caught in hundreds in the harbour of Stromness, especially immediately before the piers,—the receptacles of many a different animal, both land and sea.

The flesh of eels is something strong, and the skin thick, and very tough. Our country people strip it off, and wear it about their ankles as a preservative against the cramp; with what justice it deserves that character I know not, or whether the effects are answerable to the expectation.

Eels were long thought to want scales, but this is found to

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