I therefore take this opportunity of stating that in the Yarmouth Aquarium there is a specimen of the Edible Crab, which was trawled up from the deep-sea fishing ground by one of the vessels belonging to this port. It was brought to me on the 27th of February, and was then loaded with spawn, which has not yet been deposited. There can be no doubt that the deeper the water from which a Crab is taken, the later will be its spawning time.—C.P. Ogilvie (Yarmouth Aquarium).
Habits of the Lobster.—Lobsters at their earliest stages swim at the surface of the water. On the 27th May I procured, for the first time this year, several specimens by lowering from the Britannia Pier a muslin net, and allowing it to remain in the tideway for a few minutes. The capture of these little crustaceans is curious here, because the nearest lobster ground of any importance is at Cromer, distant about thirty-five miles off; thus showing what an immense distance the tide will convey ova and young fish. The hauls I have lately made contain lobsters, possum shrimp, sand-eels, flat-fish, &c.—all in very immature condition.—Id.
Introduction of Foreign Land and Fresh-water Mollusca.—With reference to Dr. Tristram's remarks (page 260) respecting the introduction of land and fresh-water shells from abroad, will you allow me to suggest that it might help to solve the problem of the climatic condition of England in the time of palæolithic man, if some one would introduce to British rivers, from the Nile, the Corbicula (Cyrena) fluminalis in sufficient numbers to give it a fair chance of becoming acclimatised. Paludina marginata and Unio littoralis might be more easily brought from France, and as many of your readers well know, they were associated with the Cyrena when our rivers were frequented by the Hippopotamus and their banks by Elephants and Rhinoceros and by palæolithic man. The absence of the above-named mollusks at the present time is sometimes used as an argument in favour of the conclusion that the climate was then warmer than now; but it may be, as others suppose, that they perished in England from the cold of the glacial epoch, and have had no opportunity to re-appear.—Thomas Belt (Cornwall House, Ealing).
The Fauna of the West of Scotland.—At a meeting of the Natural History Society of Glasgow, held on the 24th April last, a report was submitted from the Committee appointed last session to prepare Catalogues of the Fauna of the West of Scotland, and more particularly of the Clyde Valley. The report stated that arrangements had been made with several zoologists who had undertaken the preparation of lists of species in different departments, and that the first part of the Fauna will appear next autumn in the 'Proceedings' of the Society. The Catalogues will be so arranged that when completed they may be detached if desired, to form a separate volume. We have no doubt the Secretary of the Society will be glad to receive any communications from those who may have already collected
