160 Miscellaneous » 



either for digging out galleries in tlie earth, or for wounding the 

 insects which constitute their prey. 



From this observation the author proposes to form two divisions 

 in the genus Mygale. These are, — 



Division A. Claws not terminal, inserted above the tarsus, retrac- 

 tile ; hooks of the mandibles but slightly moveable and not much 

 developed. Mygale Blondii, nigra. 



Division B. Claws of the tarsi terminal, not retractile ; hooks of 

 the mandibles much developed. Mygale Barbara, gracilipes, afri- 

 cana. 



The species of the genus Mygale in which the tarsi are clothed 

 beneath with short, close hairs, forming a sort of brush, have the 

 claws retractile and not terminal. Those on the contrary which have 

 elongated hairs instead of a brush on the lower surface of the tarsi, 

 have the claws terminal and not retractile. — Comptes Mendus, 28th 

 December, 1857, p. 1103. 



Notice of a Large Species q/ Linens? taken on the Coast near Mon- 

 trose, By Dr. John E. Gra.y, V.P.Z.S. F.R.S. &c. 



Mr. Beattie, the Secretary of the Museum of the Natural History 

 Society of Montrose, has kindly presented to the Museum a frag- 

 ment including the head of a large marine worm which was taken 

 off the coast near Montrose on the 18th July, 1857. 



Mr. Beattie has accompanied the specimen with a figure, and 

 the following note respecting it : — 



"Length varies from 18 to 20 inches. After having been taken 

 a few hours, it divided itself into two pieces of nearly equal length, 

 the posterior of which divided itself into 32 different pieces, all of 

 which seemed to me to move for a whole day ; the head part, con- 

 tinuing to live for two days, moved about, changing its shape con- 

 tinually, and now and then throwing off an additional joint.'* 



The head portion which is in the British Museum resembles the 

 fragment of a very large Lineus, with a large longitudinal mouth 

 opening into a longitudinal cavity, which extends the whole of its 

 length, having a central, broad, longitudinal rounded ridge extending 

 the whole length of the dorsal surface. The sides of the body are 

 irregularly torn. 



The specimen is in far too imperfect a condition to describe, but 

 I think that it may be provisionally named Linens Beatticei, after 

 its discoverer ; and I hope that we may be favoured with a more 

 perfect description of the animal made from a living specimen. 



I may observe, that there is a large round hole in the centre of 

 the lower part of the body, about one-fourth the entire length from 

 the mouth, which has been mistaken by some persons for the vent ; 

 but it is evidently an artificial perforation extending entirely through 

 the substance of the body, and piercing both surfaces of the central 

 cavity .—Proc. Zool, Soc. July 28, 1857. 



