162 



The Scottish Naturalist. 



dividuals of the domestic cat. These, after several years' freedom in the forest, 

 ^Ksurae very large dimensions, hence their being frequently confounded with the 

 tru^i 5 ". Cat us. The domestic cat (Felis maniculata), it is supposed, came 

 originally from Egypt. — Id. 



[I have seen the Wild Cat mentioned b) Mr. Paton, and can assure Mr. Norman 

 that it is really a specimen of the true Felts Catus and not a tame cat run wild. 

 The other specimens mentioned, I believe, were also true Wild Cats. — Editor 

 Sc. Nat.] 



Early singing of the Chaffinch.— On the 16th January, while walking in 

 the beautiful Cluny Hill woods I heard the cheerful and well known call of the 

 Chaffinch fFringilla ccelebsj. For upwards of thirty years I have paid attention 

 to the earliest dates of the singing of this bird, both in England and the con- 

 tinent, but have never before heard it sooner than the beginning of February. 

 — Id. 



THE STALK-EYED CRUSTACEA OF THE NORTH-EAST COAST 

 OF SCOTLAND: 



With Descriptions of new Genera and Species.* 



By GEORGE SIM. 



'T^HE following list includes the stalk-eyed Crustacea hitherto 

 **■ found on the coasts of Aberdeenshire and Kincardine- 

 shires, from Banff to Stonehaven, but refers more particularly 

 to the neighbourhood of Aberdeen. It is the result of several 

 years' labour, in which it has been my practice to visit the sea- 

 beach every morning, and also to search the fishermen's lines 

 as they came to land, and, when time would permit, to go to 

 the rock-pools on the Kincardineshire coast, where many of my 

 best specimens have been got ; the fishermen, too, brought me 

 some of the larger kinds (whose habitat is the open sea) which it is 

 their practice to cast overboard as useless. In addition, I regular- 

 ly attended the fish-market, and examined the stomachs of cods 

 and haddocks, in which several species have been found which 

 would not have been obtained otherwise, unless by the dredge ; 

 but this latter mode of search I have never had time to prosecute 

 sufficiently. I have no doubt, however, that if it were gone about 

 in a proper manner the list would be very much enlarged. 



In drawing up the list I have followed the arrangement of Pro- 

 fessor Bell. In it will be found three species which 1 believe have 

 not been before described. The first of these is a new species of 



* A paper read before the Aberdeen Natural History Society. 



