192 Miscellaneous. 



bifurcated, are ventral. These traces of bilateral structure are again 

 met with in the buccal ring (of which the five ventral pieces are larger 

 than the five dorsal pieces) and in the retractor muscles of this ring. 

 — Christiania s Videnskabsselskabets Forhandlinger for 1858, p. 1 76 ; 

 Bibl. de Geneve, Mai 1861, Bull. Sclent, p. 78. 



On the Occurrence of the Opah (Lampris lauta) on the British Coast. 

 By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. &c. 



A very fine and large specimen of this rare fish was caught at Heme 

 Bay, on the 4th of July 1861. It has been presented to the British 

 Museum by Mr. Simpson, of the Divan tavern, in the Strand. An- 

 other specimen was caught about the same time in Wigton Bay, and 

 brought to the Liverpool market ; it weighed 66 lbs., and is now in 

 the Liverpool Museum. The first ray of the ventral fin has a curious 

 angular bend in it, as if it was jointed, at about one-third its length 

 from the base. 



On the Japanese and Formosan Deer. By Robert Swinhoe. 



Mr. Robert Swinhoe (in a letter dated " British Consulate, Amoy, 

 China, April 5, 1861") remarks: — 



" I see in the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History' for Feb- 

 ruary 1861, page 143, on the Japanese Deer, that a mistake has 

 occurred owing to incorrect information. Mr. Blyth describes a 

 Deer under the name Cervus taiouanus from the skull of an adult I 

 sent him. This was procured from the Formosan Deer supposed to 

 be C. pseudaxis. Subsequently I sent him four live Deer, which I 

 distinctly informed him were received from Japan ; but whether 

 through inability to read my letter, or for some reasons to me un- 

 known, he set down in his belief that the old buck was from Formosa 

 and the other three from Japan. All four of the Deer sent him were 

 from Japan, and the skull alone from Formosa. There can be no 

 possible doubt that the former belong to any other than the Japanese 

 species C. sika, Schleg., of the ' Fauna Japonica.' That the For- 

 mosan Deer is distinct from the Japanese I have no shadow of doubt, 

 from the various opportunities I have had of comparing the animals 

 from the two different places. The old Formosan bucks stand at 

 least one foot higher than the Japanese bucks, and their horns are 

 somewhat flattened at the end ; one of the former has been sent by 

 the Dutch Consul here to Leyden. I am doing my utmost to pro- 

 cure a pair of these handsome animals for the Zoological Gardens. 

 I am told that a Stag is also found near Ningpo, but have never 

 seen examples. The large species from the north found in the 

 Summer Palace Gardens, of which I sent three skins to the Zoological 

 Gardens, you will be able to determine as soon as the ' Harkaway,' 

 in which vessel they were shipped, arrives in England. If the Zoolo- 

 gical Society will remunerate the masters of the vessels for the con- 

 veyance of live Deer to England, I dare say I can manage to defray 

 all expenses here in procuring the animals." — Proc. Zool. Soc. June 

 11, 1861. 



