Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/83

Rh I do not think it has been met with on the coast of Banffshire.— (Banff).

[Couch, who calls it "The Morris" and the "Anglesea Morris," from the name of the discoverer and the place where it was found, says (vol. iv., p. 348) it has been met with round the whole extent of the British coast, even to Caithness, where an example was obtained by Mr. Peach.—]

—The occurrence of Red Mullet, Mullus surmuletus, at this season of the year, in British waters is exceedingly rare, if not unprecedented; yet I have to record the capture in our Bay, on the 24th December, of the largest recorded specimen. It appeared to be in excellent condition, measuring 1 foot 4 inches over all; in length, 1 ft. ¼ in. from eye to fork; its greatest girth, 10½ inches; and its weight, 42 ounces. This enormous weight, of two pounds ten ounces, has never, I believe, been observed before of this fish in British Seas.— (Penzance).

—A very remarkable specimen of a rare shell, Paryphanta Hochsetteri (Pfeiffer), was presented to the British Museum last year by Mr. T.L. Travers. It was collected in the same part of New Zealand whence the first described example came. The exact locality is the Whakamarama range of mountains, which are situated north-west of Nelson. The shell was very much crushed when received by the Museum, yet not absolutely broken, with the exception of the apical whorls, which were completely smashed into the cavity of the penultimate whorl. The peculiarity of the specimen consists in the flexibility of its substance, and the total absence of the shelly deposit which lines the interior of normal specimens, thus producing a somewhat solid and unpliable structure. On immersion in boiling water it speedily became pliant, and I was consequently enabled to restore it to its probable natural form by stuffing it with wool. This curious flexible texture, resembling in a remarkable degree the husk of a chestnut, both as regards colour and pliancy, at first led me to conclude that it was a new and very strange form. However, subsequent and more careful examination and comparison of it with P. Hochstetteri convinced me that it was a specimen (about half the size of a full-grown one) of that species which, through some unpropitious circumstance, had been reared in a situation where it was unable to obtain the quota of carbonate of lime requisite for the production of the internal shelly lining. Although there are other differences, such as the absence of yellowish colour in the epidermis, except around the middle of the body-whorl, where there are traces of it, and the lack of subgranulation on the upper surface, I think these may be ascribed to individual variation, and not accounted specific distinctions. Both this species and P. Busbyi, also a