NOTES 141 



The Brooding of the Starfish, Cribrella oculata. Several 

 starfishes are known to shelter their young during the early stages 

 of development, either in a special brood-pouch formed by a 

 number of flattened plates on the upper surface or in an improvised 

 brood-pouch formed by a bringing together of the arms in the 

 neighbourhood of the mouth. Cribrella has been observed to 

 adopt the latter method of protecting the larval forms, though the 

 habit is not a very definite one, at least under the artificial con- 

 ditions of an aquarium. Dr J. F. Gemmill {Proc. Zool. Soc. Lo/uL, 

 Dec. 1 916, p. 554) has made further observations on the develop- 

 ment of this species at Millport Marine Station, and finds that 

 though at least 500 eggs are laid by each mature female, none of 

 the eggs was observed to enter into and remain in the brood-pouch 

 formed by the closed arms. He considers that Cribrella is losing 

 the habit of brooding, and that the change towards loss has 

 advanced further on the west coast of Scotland than on the east 

 and in Norway. 



Limax cinereo-niger near sea-level in Banffshire. Miss 

 J. Gowan has sent me a half-grown example of Limax ci/iereo-?iiger 

 var. maura, the extreme black form, which she found on the 2nd 

 May in a wood near a stream at Cullen, in company with a young 

 example of Arion ater var. nigrescens ; she also sent at the same 

 time a half-grown A. ater var. swammerdamii from under a watering- 

 can which had stood in the garden at The Wakes, Cullen, all 

 winter. The occurrence of the former at sea-level is interesting, as 

 we usually have it from mountain or moorland woods. I have 

 previously seen this species sent me by the late Dr George Gordon, 

 taken by him in Glen Fiddach, Banffshire, 17th July 1891, at 

 800 feet elevation ; this was a three-quarter grown example of the var. 

 vera, and occurred in company with L. arborum var. alpestris. So 

 Miss Gowan's example is the second on record for the county. 

 W. Denison Roebuck, 259 Hyde Park Road, Leeds. 



Limax flavus in Lanarkshire. Mr William Rennie, of 

 Glasgow, who has sent me many things lately, sent me a number of 

 slugs taken in Cadder parish, near Glasgow, on the 9th April 191 7. 

 In addition to the usual common forms, this lot included a young 

 example of Limax flavus, the Yellow or Cellar Slug, an addition to 

 the authenticated fauna of the county. My list of Lanarkshire 

 Mollusca, read before the Natural History Society of Glasgow, is to 

 be published in The Glasgow Naturalist. I hope readers who can 

 send me Lanarkshire mollusca for record for this list will do so. 

 W. Denison Roebuck, 259 Hyde Park Road, Leeds. 



