294 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



The Spiny Crossfish (Asterias glacialis, Linn.) in 

 Orkney. A typical and well-grown example of this species, 

 easily distinguished from Asterias muelleri by the absence of 

 pedicellariaj on the spines next the tube feet, has been forwarded by 

 Mr J. Bain, from Orkney. The specimen is of good size, over 

 10 inches from tip to tip of its arms, the radius of the disc being 

 13 mm. and the length of a ray 135 mm. The rays were full of 

 well-developed ova. The specimen was caught in a lobster-pot, off 

 Swona, South Ronaldshay, Orkney, on 5th June 191 7 by the 

 fishermen, who state that the)' have never seen a similar starfish. 

 So far as I know, this is the first instance of its occurrence in 

 Orkney, though a specimen from the Pentland Firth has already 

 been recorded by me in The Scottish Naturalist (1913, p. 237). 

 These records tend to show that this creature, which is common 

 on the western coast, is regularly distributed further to the east than 

 was supposed, and indicate that it belongs to the considerable group 

 of animals, among them the Rock Lobster, Palinurus vulgaris, 

 which inhabit the Atlantic coasts of Britain, but have never 

 succeeded in penetrating to or establishing themselves in the North 

 Sea. James Ritchie, Royal Scottish Museum. 



Planorbis albus and P. contortus in Banffshire and 

 Aberdeenshire South. Miss J. Gowan of Cullen, to whom I 

 have recently been indebted for much assistance in regard to the 

 mollusca of that neighbourhood, has sent numerous examples of 

 Planorbis albus and a few small ones of P. contortus, taken in 

 a pond in Cullen House grounds, in the parish of Rathven, 13th 

 June. She also sent the same two species, one of the former, and 

 the latter very numerous, found on stones in the Loch of Aboyne, 

 Aberdeenshire South, 2nd July 191 7, this loch being 400 ft. above 

 sea-level. These are fresh authentications for the respective vice- 

 counties 94 and 92, and are valuable contributions to the working 

 out of the range of freshwater shells in northern Scotland. 

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



Milax gagates in Stirlingshire. I have had the pleasure 

 of receiving from a fresh correspondent, Mr George Nelson, of 

 Falkirk, a few slugs collected in his garden at 38 Griffiths Street, 

 26th September 1917. These are a very characteristically marked 

 example of Litnax maximus var. celtaria, one of Agriolimax 

 agrestis var. reticulata, and Milax gagates var. rava, the last-named 

 being quite a new authentication for the county of Stirling. He 

 has also sent various shells from the Union Canal. W. Denison 

 Roebuck, 259 Hyde Park Road, Leeds. 



