COROPHIUM LONGICORNE. 495 



small tubular galleries, excavated in the mud, over which 

 the tide flows and ebbs. It has not, however, been 

 ascertained whether the channels in the mud are per- 

 forated by these Crustacea or by the numerous annelids 

 that it preys upon. Quaterfages, in his pleasant 

 " Rambles of a Naturalist," says, " that at about the 

 end of April they come from the open sea in myriads 

 (they are called Pernis by the fishermen of the coast of 

 Saintonge) to wage war with the annelids, which they 

 entirely destroy before the end of May; they then 

 attack the mollusca and fish all through the summer, 

 and disappear in a single night about the end of October, 

 and return again the following year." It is one of these 

 fierce combats with an annelid that we have represented 

 in our vignette. 



This species may probably be found all round the 

 British coast, and it would be interesting if local na- 

 turalists should be able to confirm the information 

 derived from the fishermen on the coast of Saintonge. 

 We have taken several specimens in calm weather during 

 the month of July, amongst weed attached to a buoy 

 in Plymouth Sound, associated with Podocerus ; but we 

 have not, among the many that have been sent to us, 

 received any remarks from our correspondents relative 

 either to season or situation in which they had been 

 found, and therefore assume their habitats to be as 

 commonly reported. 



They have been recorded or sent to us from Berwick 

 by Dr. Johnson ; from the Moray Frith, by the Rev. 

 G. Gordon ; from Norfolk and the mouth of the Med- 

 way, by Dr. Leach ; and we have taken them in Loughor 

 Marsh, Glamorgan. Q-uatrefages speaks of their abund- 

 ance on the coast of Saintonge. Mr. D'Orbigny has 

 recorded them from the Bay of L'Aiguillon, near 



