238 Miscellaneous. 



doubt. Or are we to consider this as a gratuitous addition ? if so, what 

 authority are we to place in the other habitats given by this author ? 

 M. Petit objects to my having used two generic names so ahke as 

 Lottia and Latia (!), and further asks if the genus is distinct from 

 Grunlachia of Pfeiffer. "When he made this inquiry he could scarcely 

 have compared the figures of the two shells, which are both given in 

 his Journal. — John Edw. Gray. 



The Anglesey Morris, Leptocephalus Morrisii. 



In vol, ii. page 409 of the second edition of Yarrell's British Fishes, 

 the fish mentioned above is described, and although " twenty spe- 

 cimens had then been taken, within a few years, on diiferent parts of 

 the coasts of England, Wales, and Ireland," there is no mention of 

 it as having been found in Scotland. It is with great pleasure I am 

 able to state, that one was taken at Wick, N.B., about six years ago, 

 by a fisherman, who took it to Mr. Nichol, druggist, of Pulteney 

 Town, Wick, in whose possession my son Joseph saw it, preserved 

 in spirit, since which I have examined it, and find that it agrees in 

 every respect with those described in Yarrell ; it is about six inches 

 in length, and in a good state of preservation. 



As I have no work on the fishes of Scotland to refer to, I think it 

 right to give publicity to this interesting addition to .the Scottish 

 Fauna. Chas. W. Peach. 



Wick, 18th Feb. 1854. 



FIGURED PEARLS OF THE CHINESE. 



Some years ago I described the Chinese mode of producing arti- 

 ficial pearls of a large size and regular form (Ann. Philos. ix. 27). 

 Mr. Fortune has lately sent to England some specimens of Dipsas 

 plicata, showing that the Chinese have improved on the process. In 

 the specimen I formerly described, the artificial matrix was a plano- 

 convex piece of mother-of-pearl producing a rounded pearl. In those 

 now sent the pearls each represent a Chinese joss or sitting figure of 

 about an inch in length, and there are often as many as eleven or twelve 

 in each valve, forming three parallel lines, all with the head of the 

 figure directed towards the margin of the shell. They are all of the 

 same form and size, and the matrix is a soft white metal : it is evi- 

 dently thin, as they do not add much to the weight of the shell. In 

 the specimens I have seen the matrices are most regularly and evenly 

 covered with the pearly layer, but the covering is so thin that I 

 doubt if they can be used for ornament, and rather suspect that thej 

 are manufactured for the purpose of being sold as curious shells than 

 for the purpose of setting. 



M. Oscar Marescaux has kindly shown me some similar specimens 

 sent from China by his brother Alfred, who procured them from Loo 

 Choo Lake. He has also one of the pieces of metal taken from one 

 of the shells ; it is thin, rather brittle, and evidently cast from a kind 

 of bell metal, with a concave iimer and a smooth whitish convex outer 

 surface, showing the copper colour on the edge. — John £dw. Gray. 



