318 Herring Fry, White Bait. 



1835. [In V. 490. is information on the cries of frogs, but 

 not to the point noticed by Mr. Beeston.] 



[Frogs, the Notices of Showers of, in II. 103. J — Frogs, or 

 their ova, may be protected in a quiescent state, during winter, 

 in the clefts of banks and in the mud. In the West Indies 

 we have many pools which are annually dried up; but, on the 

 return of the periodical rains, they suddenly abound with fishes, 

 crustaceous and other animals, which have not been brought 

 from higher waters, but must have been preserved in some 

 state in the very spot. — Lansdown Guilding. St. Vincent, 

 May 1. 1830. 



Fishes. — [Herring Fry found in Quantity upon Land, and 

 in such a State, as to lead to the Conclusion that they were 

 brought thither by a Water Spout.~\ — A remarkable, though not 

 unprecedented, occurrence happened on Monday last, in the 

 county of Ross. As Major Forbes Mackenzie, of Fodderty, 

 in Strathpeffer, was traversing a field on his farm, he was not 

 a little surprised to find a considerable portion of the ground 

 covered with herring fry, of from 3 in. to 4 in. each in length. 

 The fish were fresh and entire, and had no appearance of 

 being dropped by birds, a medium by which they must have 

 been bruised and mutilated. The only rational conjecture 

 that can be formed of the circumstance is, that the fish were 

 transported thither in a water spout ; a phenomenon that has 

 before occurred in this country, and which is by no means 

 uncommon in tropical climates. The Frith of Dingwall lies 

 about three miles from the place in question ; but no obstruc- 

 tion occurs between the field and the sea. The whole is a 

 level strath, or plain; and water spouts have been known to 

 carry even farther than this. .Major Mackenzie has forwarded 

 a small quantity of the fish to the secretary of the Northern 

 Institution. We have just inspected them ; and can assure 

 our readers, that, though the fry would go but a small way 

 towards satisfying a few hungry gillies [boys, or servants], 

 they will abundantly gratify the curiosity of every visiter. 

 (Inverness Journal.) [The date not copied. The date from 

 Major Mackenzie, or any friend of his, with any unstated par- 

 ticulars, if any remain unstated, would be deemed of value.] 



The White Bait (Clicpea alba Yarrell) in the Frith of Forth, 

 and at Kincardine. — At the meeting of the Wernerian Na- 

 tural History Society of Edinburgh, held on March 12., Dr. 

 Richard Parnell made an interesting communication regarding 

 the occurrence, in the Frith of Forth, of the noted little fish 

 called white bait, on which Londoners are wont to feast at 

 Blackwall. Much dubiety has long prevailed concerning this 

 fish ; English naturalists having considered it as the fry of 



