Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/287

Rh some twenty-five years ago, several specimens of Helix villosa which I had brought alive from Switzerland, and I know that they or their posterity were living in the same place ten years later. I saw a few weeks ago a couple of splendidly-grown Parmacella, which had been found in a garden near Newcastle, and which will doubtless, if they are properly fed, establish a colony in our neighbourhood. These, of course, must have been introduced accidentally with plants; but many other species have been intentionally transplanted. A friend of mine, many years ago, brought a number of Helix lapicida from the South of England, and established them on some rocks on the banks of the Wear: they are now one of our recognized local species. I have also turned out Clausilias from Africa and from Syria, and various species of Helix from the latter country, in suitable localities in the county of Durham. But the latter perished the first winter: they could protect themselves against heat better than cold. Knowing how rapidly gasteropods modify under dififering conditions, it may be interesting to note in what time, if in any, a change takes place in these new colonists. Fresh-water shells are transported, I believe, on the feet and tarsi of ducks and waders, in those cases—as in Physa, Limnnæa, &c.—in which the ova have a glutinous covering. I once shot a mallard a hundred miles away from water, in the Sahara, and noticed the ova of some mollusk—probably Succinea—adhering to one of its feet. I suspect it will not be very dificult to extend the catalogue of British Land Shells, just as it has been for three-quarters of a century swollen by the addition of Bulimus Goodallii—a common West Indian shell now acclimatized in our greenhouses.— (Durham).

—With regard to the time of year at which the Edible Crab (Cancer pagurus) spawns, I may observe that my friends at Porthgwarra, Messrs. Jackson, put female crabs into their large tanks there in December last, having the spawn developed under the apron; and on taking them out again, on 15th February last, found that all had shed their spawn. This agrees with the fact already known, that impregnation takes place with this crab about August and September.— (Penzance).

—Towards the end of February last we had occasion to empty a tank containing flat-fishes, and a flounder of eight inches in length was inadvertently left buried in the shingle, where it died. On refilling the tank it was tenanted by three lobsters (Homarus marinus), one of which is an aged veteran of unusual size, bearing an honourable array of barnacles; and he soon brought to light the hidden flounder, with which he retired to a corner. In a short time it was noticed that the flounder had disappeared. It was impossible the lobster could have eaten it all in the interim, and the handle of a net revealed the fact that, upon the approach of the two smaller lobsters, the larger one had buried the flounder beneath