474 Chronicles of Science, [July, 



The Vielle of the Seychelles. — This enormous ^sh,i]ieBa(rachus 

 gif/as, is occasionally caught by the fishermen of the above islands. 

 Mr. Swinburne Ward, a resident in the Seychelles, writes that he 

 has made repeated endeavours to procure a specimen to send to 

 Europe, but it is exceedingly difficult so to do. The fishermen are 

 sometimes obhged to cut the hues when a Vielle has been hooked, 

 and on one occasion Mr. Ward was disappointed by the escape of a 

 monster just as he had brought him to the surface. One has been 

 known in the harbour for the last six years, lurking in a deep hole, 

 as appears to be the habit of the species ; and he refuses all snares 

 and baits which are contrived to capture him. A head was sent 

 recently to London by Mr. Ward, of a very large specimen, the 

 greater part of which had been damaged ; and he is now making 

 continued efforts to obtain a good specimen. The fish is often as 

 much as seventeen feet in length. 



The Zandr, or PiJce-Perch, is a fish resembling in external 

 appearance both pike and perch, which is common in Eastern 

 Germany, and is much eaten m Berlin, but is not known to the 

 west of the Elbe. Mr. Frank Buckland has been making endea- 

 vours to procure specimens for naturahzation in this country ; and 

 a dealer who recently went to Berlin to obtain specimens of the 

 Silurus glanis for the reservoirs of a gentleman residing in Oxford- 

 shire, brought over with him some specimens of this interesting fish. 

 Herr Brockhardt has promised to send Mr. Buckland next spring a 

 living zande of 11 or 12 lbs. weight, and also young zandes. The 

 fish inhabits the lake-like expansions of the Naffel, Spree, and other 

 rivers in North Germany, and is hence rather a lacustrine than a 

 fluviatile species. 



The Green Leech. — Trocheta viridis was first recorded as a 

 British species some years ago by Dr. Gray, who had a specimen 

 sent to him which was obtained in a very strange place, viz. Kegent's 

 Park. Mr. Henry Lee has lately rediscovered the species, and Mr. 

 Pryor, of Trinity College, Cambridge, has also found it at Horsham 

 in Surrey. The green colour was supposed by some persons to bo 

 possibly due to chlorophyl. Mr. Lankester, whose observations 

 with the spectroscope first proved the presence of chlorophyl in the 

 river Sponge, in Hydra viridis, and in a green worm (Mesosfomum), 

 finds upon spectroscopic examination that the green colour of 

 Trocheta is not due to chlorophyl, but to a distinct green colouring 

 matter soluble in alcohol, which also occurs in some marine 

 annehds. 



Imfregnation of Bcdani. — In a recent Chronicle we noticed 

 Fritz Miiller's observations on South American Barnacles, which 

 led Lim to believe that these animals arc not only hermaphrodite, 

 but capable of impregnating neighbouring individuals : and thus 

 possibly in some cases a crossing of species might arise, which he 



