108 EIGHTH REPORT — 1838. 



Notice of the Annual Aj^pearance on the Durham Coast of some of the 

 Lestris tribe. By Edward Backhouse. 



The author stated, from observations made during a series of years, 

 while occasionally residing in the neighbourhood of tlie Tees' mouth, 

 that the Lestris JRichardso7iii is the earliest of tlje genus in its appear- 

 ance on these shores when on its southern migration. 



The young birds seem usually to arrive in the beginning of Septem- 

 ber, and in the middle of the same month the adults, accompanied by 

 the young of the Lestris Pomarinus, make their appearance, generally 

 continuing for about three weeks, when they are succeeded in the mid- 

 dle of October by the mature Pomarine Skuas ; these, as far as Mr. 

 Backhouse has been able to discover, continue for the like space of 

 three weeks and then disappear. 



He last year met with Lestris Pomarinus in its mature state in con- 

 siderable abundance off Hartlepool and the Tees' mouth. 



Early in the autumn of 1836, while at the same place, he obtained 

 one of the Lestris tribe which materially differed from any he had be- 

 fore met with. 



This specimen is in the immature plumage, very much resembling 

 in its markings the young of L. Pomarinus. In size and proportions 

 it nearly approaches Z. ;x/r«52Y/c?M ; and having recently compared it 

 with a nearly mature specimen of L. parasiticus, also shot on the coast 

 of Durham, now in the collection of Mr. John Hancock of Newcastle, 

 he is induced to conclude it to be the young of that bird. 



Its admeasurements are as under, viz. : — 



Length from bill to tail 17 inches. 



Expanded wings 32 



Elongated tail feathers, rounded at the end, project l^ths of an inch. 

 Bill, from forehead to tip, nearly 1 inch. 

 Length of tarsi 1 1 inch. 



He also stated that L. cataractes was met with, though rarely, on 

 this coast. 



The paper was accompanied with drawings and stuffed siDecimcns of 

 the various species. 



On a New Species of Smelt from the Isle of JBute. 

 By W. Yarrell, F.L.S. 



In the month of November, 1837, Mr. Yarrell received from W. 

 Ewing, Esq., of St. Vincent Street, Glasgow, a specimen of a smelt, 

 which Avas at the first glance so obviously different from our well-known 

 and esteemed favourite, as at once to claim for it the title of a distinct 

 species ; and the specimen was the more interesting from the circum- 

 stance that this fish is not only new to our own country, but is also 

 entirely new to ichthyology, no second species of the genus Osmerus j 

 having hitherto been made known. 



The gentleman just named passed part of the summer of 1837 near 



