ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 125 



Large specimen of Mytilus modiolus in the Firth of Forth. 



Mr. J. J. Weir has kindly shown me a very fine specimen of the 

 "Horse Mussel," measuring 7^ inches in length and 10 inches in girth, 

 which he caught in August last, on an ordinary haddock-line baited 

 with herring, mid-way between May Island and Anstruther, in about 

 20 fathoms of water. Not only is the specimen considerably above 

 the usual size of this species, though examples over 9 inches are on 

 record, but the singular fact of its having entirely swallowed a 

 baited hook is interesting, and calls to mind Pennant's assertion that 

 it " often seizes the bait on the ground-lines," which statement, by the 

 way, is ridiculed by Gwyn Jeffreys, but is substantiated nevertheless 

 by Mr. Weir's capture, which had to be opened to recover the hook. 

 WM. EAGLE CLARKE. 



Silver-striped Hawk-moth in Ross-shire. On the evening of 

 1 5th September 1895, at Tulloch, Dingwall, I captured a fine 

 specimen of the Silver-striped Hawk-moth (Ch&rocampa celerio) 

 whilst it darted on to a white trumpet-lily. This moth is rare in 

 Britain, and especially in the north of Scotland, and its occurrence 

 in Ross-shire may be worthy of record in the " Annals of Scottish 

 Natural History."- -DUNCAN DAVIDSON, of Tulloch. 



Cristatella mueedo, Cuvier, in the Loehs of Shetland. This 

 curious and interesting polyzoon is, when living, one of the most 

 beautiful objects we can have under the microscope. But its beauty 

 is not the only thing that makes it interesting : it has the power of 

 locomotion, and can wander about on the stems of aquatic plants by 

 a kind of crawling movement. I have not found the creature itself 

 in material collected in the Shetland lochs ; but the statoblasts which 

 are so characteristic of this and of no other known British species 

 occurred in one or two gatherings sent to me from Shetland. I 

 found it, living, many years ago in a little loch near Rothesay. The 

 statoblasts of Cristatella are round, compressed, and of a dark 

 brownish colour, having usually round the circumference a fringe of 

 small rod-like appendages barbed at the outer ends. THOMAS SCOTT, 

 Leith. 



Scottish Newts Wanted. With a view to ascertaining the dis- 

 tribution of the various species of Newts in Scotland, I desire to 

 receive specimens for examination from all parts of the country. All 

 assistance will be fully and gladly acknowledged. They travel well 

 alive in a little damp moss. WILLIAM EAGLE CLARKE, Museum of 

 Science and Art, Edinburgh. 



