NOTES ORIGINAL AND SI-.LECTED. 4I 



FISHES. 



The " Goldsinny " or " Corkwing " in Essex Waters, 

 — In a box of fish specimens sent to the Museum from Bright- 

 hiigsea to-day, I was pleased to find an example of the "Gold- 

 sinny " or " Goldfinny," Cvenilabvus melops. It was probal)ly 

 caught off the Buxey Sands, the spot frequently worked by the 

 fisherman, Mr. Welham. The fish was unknown as a local 

 species to Dr. Laver when he wrote the Mammals and Fishes of 

 Essex, but he mentions that the late Dr. Bree had described two 

 specimens taken off" the coast (F^V/i, December ist, 1866, p. 420). 

 And we gather from a note in Dr. Layer's paper on Essex Fishes 

 in the Victoria History that Dr. Murie has sent specimens to the 

 British Museum trom the Thames Estuary. It is either very 

 rare in Essex waters, or is overlooked by the fishermen —and as 

 it has no food value the latter is the probable explanation. — W. 

 Cole, March yth, 1903. 



IXSECTS. 



The " Colorado Beetle " at Tilbury, Essex.— About 

 the end of May, 1902, Dovypliova decemlineata made its unwelcome 

 re-appearance at Tilbury. In August, i90i,its presence in some 

 allotments in Tilbury Dock was reported to the Board of Agri- 

 culture ; the beetles had been observed for some time, and in 

 August they were breeding with great energy. Eggs, larvae in 

 all stages, and adults, were found on a large patch of potatoes. 

 In 1902 traces of the destruction were found in several fields in 

 Tilbury as well as in the allotments. There can be no doubt 

 that the great vitality of Doryphora in the perfect state renders it 

 an enemy to be dreaded. The insects have been kept for weeks 

 without food ; have withstood nnmersion in chloroform, 40 per 

 cent, formalin and in paraffin for some hours, and apparently 

 they can float unharmed for days in w^ater. Nothing is easier for 

 these beetles, which swarm in America, and which have been 

 seen flying about the streets of New York, to settle upon some 

 outward bound vessel, and in the case of a pregnant female on 

 arrival in the Thames, to fly to the potato fields, lay eggs, and so 

 set up a colony. The climatic conditions of this country are not 

 unfavourable. The insect, says Riley, is northern rather than 

 southern in its distribution. A great number of natural enemies 

 tend to check the increase of the beetle in America. At Tilbury 



