340 Miscellaneous. 



away when it has done its work, is yet not lost, but transmits to suc- 

 ceeding types the undying fire, tinted with its own characteristic hue. 

 And this succession of typical forms, like the perpetuation of each 

 particular type, is brought about by t^ie action of the individual, fol- 

 lowing the laws and impulses of its own nature, and unwittingly con- 

 tributing, by the performance of its own little part, to the gradual 

 unfolding of the majestic drama of creation. But the arrangement 

 of the scenes is due to foresight, not to chance, to the constructive 

 power .of thought adapting organization to circumstance, not to any 

 power in circumstance to create by destroying. In the words of the 

 same great master whose language I have already quoted — 



Nature also, cold and warm, 



And moist and dry, devising long, 

 Through many agents, making strong, 



Matures the individual form. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Capture of the Long-finned Tunny on the Chesil Beach. 

 By W. Thompson, Esq. 



To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. 



Gentlemen, — On the 13th instant I had the gratification of 

 receiving a specimen of the Germon, or Long-finned Tunny {Thynnus 

 alalonga of Cuvier), from its captor, who had been kindly sent to 

 me by my friend Capt. INIanning, 11. M. Lieutenant Governor of 

 Portland. The captor informed me that *'«7 run ashore like a 

 whale" on the Chesil Beach. It was evidently a sickly fish, although 

 apparently very well fed. I purchased the fish and sent it to the 

 British Museum ; and as time presses, and I have little doubt that 

 we shall have a description drawn up by our good friend Dr. Gray, 

 I shall not now give the description, nor the measurements that I 

 liave taken. 



I am. Gentlemen, 

 Gloucester Row, Weymouth, Yours truly, 



March 19, 1861. William Thompson. 



On Oxybeles gracilis, Bleeker. By Dr. C. L. Doleschall. 



The remarkable observation made by Quoy and Gaimard, and 

 confirmed by Bleeker, that certain fishes habitually reside in the 

 stomachal cavities of Echinodermata, has been submitted to further 

 examination by the author ; and although he does not arrive at any 

 very satisfactory results, a short notice of his observations may prove 

 interesting to our readers. 



Dr. Doleschall states that the fact of the connexion between the 

 fish and the star-fish is well known to most of the fishermen in 

 Amboyna, and that he was able to obtain a sufficiency of specimens 

 for examination ; but as the star-fishes (and with them the fishes) 



