228 MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



OKNITH0I.0O1CAL CAPTURES IN THE NeIGUBOURHOOD OP PLYMOUTH, FROM DECEMBER, 1852, TO APRIL, 1853. 



December 27th., 1852. — During a heavy gale a specimen of the Fork-tailed Petrel, {Procellaria 

 LeacJui^) and Brown Skua, [Catarades Skua,) were picked up in an exhausted state on the rocks 

 of Plymouth Sound. January 15th., 1853. — A fine specimen of the Puffin, {Alca arcHca,) was 

 captured. The occurrence of this species on our coasts in winter is very uncommon. On the 

 29th. of the same month, the Kinged Guillemot, (V'?-ia Lacrymans,) was obtained on the River 

 Tamar. April 26th. — A male Continental "Wagtail, {Motacilla alba,) was killed by myself at 

 Laira, near Plymouth; and on the 29th., a female Golden Oriole, {Oriolus galbula,) was shot 

 in the neighbourhood of Mount Edgcurabe. Its stomach contained the remains of caterpillars, 

 flies, and the stones of berries. The above-mentioned birds were all preserved by Mr. Bolitho, 

 Taxidermist, Plymouth. I have met with many specimens of. the Black Redstart, ( FhoRnicura 

 tithys,) in our neighbourhood during the past winter. — John Gatcombe, Wyndham Place, 

 Plymouth, June 24th., 1853. 



Song of the Blue Titmouse, (Parus coeruleus.) — With reference to the singing of the Blue 

 Titmouse, noticed by my brother in a recent number of "The Naturalist," I have to add that very 

 soon afterwards I heai-d one singing, for the first time that I ever observed it to do so, close 

 to my study window; and a short time afterwards I heard another singing on the wing, in flying 

 from one tree to another. It was a very low, very soft, and very sweet warble. — F. 0. Morris, 

 Naiferton Vicarage, Driffield, August 29th., 1853. 



Testacella Scutulum, ("The Naturalist," vol. iii., page 179.)— Knapp, in "The Journal of a 

 Naturalist," at page 353, Fourth Edition, 1838, makes the following statement: — "An extraor- 

 dinary Snail, {Testacellus haliotideus,) is now spreading by transplantation in many places, and 

 may hereafter 'occasion inquiry." To this statement is appended the following note: — "This 

 creature was first observed, I am told, about the year 1819, in the nursery-garden of Messrs. 

 Miller and Sweet, near Bristol, introduced, as is supposed, on some imported plant. It increases 

 i-eadily in our climate." The nursery-gardens above-mentioned have since passed into the hands 

 of Mr. Garraway, a most generous and liberal-minded man. In 1843, while residing at Tenby, 

 I saw a specimen of this slug, which in appearance, so far as I can remember at this distance 

 of time, resembled the description given by your correspondent, Mr. J. Mc' Intosh, of the T. 

 Scutulum. It was found in the kitchen-garden attached to the house, at present the property 

 of Colonel Wedgwood, of Tenby. Knowing this Slug had been found iu Mr. Garraway's nurseries, 

 I was disposed to conclude it had been introduced into the gai'den I have mentioned at Tenby, 

 in the mould attached to the roots of plants supplied by Mr. Garraway. It may be interesting 

 to some of j'our readers to see Mr. Ball's statement as to the feeding of this Slug on worms. — "I 

 first became aware of this Testacellus preying on worms by putting some of them in spirits, 

 when they disgorged more of these animals than I thought they could possibly have contained : 

 each worm was cut, but not divided, at regular intervals. I afterwards caught them in the act 

 of swallowing worms four and five times their own length. Some of these Tcstacelli, which I 

 brought to Dublin, and put in my fern-house, produced young there." — An: of Nat: Hist: 

 vol. vi., page 20.— R. Wilbraham Falconer, M. D., Bath. 



The Death's Head Moth, (Acherontia Atropos,) at Louth. — On the 28th. of June, I had a fine 

 specimen of the Death's Head Moth brought to mo, which had just been captured under the 

 cover of a bee-hive in James-Street, Louth. — John Brown, Louth, July Ist., 1853. 



White Variety of Prunella vulgaris. — Some years ago I found a white variety of this com- 

 mon plant in the parish of Alvah, Banffshire, North Britain. The normal colour of the corolla is 

 violet blue. I am not aware of this lusus naturcc having been previously observed or recorded. 

 Although the fact is in itself of little importance, it is not without interest to the botanist. 

 —J. Rose, M. D. R. N., Haslar Hospital, Gcsport, April 8th., 1853. 



