Evolution of Bird-Song' I have been preparing my 'Dictionary,' which is now ready for the press. I may say I mentioned this to Mr. Warde Fowler last spring. I have, of course, obtained help from others, and gleaned from the literature of the subject.—Charles A. Witchell (Elthara, Kent).
PISCES.
The Porbeagle in Manx Waters.—The capture of this Shark, Lamna cornubica, is worth recording, as it is the first time it has been taken (or, at all events, recorded) off the Manx coast. It was found on November 3rd, by William Gawne, floundering in rather shallow water, in Derby Haven, at the south of the Isle of Man. He struck it with a bit of drift wood, "when it flew into the air"; he then killed it with a stone. When it reached me it was too far gone for preservation; but a photograph of it had been taken by Mr. Capam, by which it could be identified. I found it to be a good specimen, answering exactly to Day's description. I could not find the "spiracles" to which he refers as sometimes seen between the eye and first gill-opening. The colour was a dull grey, with peculiar sheen above and white beneath. It measured in a straight line from the tip of the snout to the centre of the tail, 37½ inches, and five inches more to the tip of the longest lobe. The viscera had been removed when sent to me; Gawne had noticed nothing in its stomach except "dirt." For some time previously he had noticed large fish in his nets cut clean in half, no doubt by this individual. Day says this species is not rare in the Orkneys and Shetland, has been met with all round the east coast,[1] and is common in Cornwall. It appears to be infrequent on the west coast, but has been taken in Dublin Bay and Belfast Lough.
Last summer I obtained a specimen of an allied species, the Thresher, Alopecias vulpes, from the Point of Ayre. It was even more decayed than this one. It also had not previously been recorded as Manx.
A movement is now on foot to have a good Museum in the Isle of Man, and I trust it will not be very long before we are able to provide for the due preservation not only of rare and unusual specimens, but of all the fish in our waters—a collection, in fact, which will afford a perfect illustration of the natural history as well as of the archæology of the Isle of Man.—P.M.C. Kermode (Ramsey, Isle of Man).
Large Tunny on the Essex Coast.—A large specimen of the Common Tunny, Orcynus thynnus, the pectoral fin being only about a foot in length, was found ashore on Foulness on October 24th. It was quite nine feet long, and as much in circumference. Mr. H.L. Matthams writes me that "a full-sized man sitting on the top could not touch the ground with
- ↑ Not uncommon at Great Yarmouth (ante, pp. 564–5).—Ed.
