Miscellaneous. 395 



ON THE NIDIFICATION OF THE STICKLEBACK. 



To Richard Taylor, Esq. 



Newcastle-on-Tyne, Oct. 16th, 1852. 



Dear Sir, — I find that I have committed an error, in my paper 

 which appeared in the last number of the * Annals,' in assuming that 

 Mr. J. Couch is the author of the memoir, " On the Nidificatiou of the 

 Fifteen-spined Stickleback," which was published in the Transactions 

 of the Royal Institution of Cornwall : this memoir is, I am informed, 

 from the pen of Mr. R. Q. Couch. Not being able to refer to these 

 ' Transactions,' I quoted from the ' Illustrations of Instinct,' — the 

 work of the former gentleman ; and in it the author's name of the 

 communication in question is not given. Mr. R. Q. Couch has 

 assured me that he still entertains the opinion he originally expressed, 

 that the nest described by him really belongs to the Fifteen-spined 

 Stickleback. 



Since the publication of my paper I have also ascertained that, so 

 far back as 1839, Dr. Johnston described the nest of this fish in the 

 ' Transactions of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club.' In the Doctor's 

 communication it is stated that " in an early volume of the ' Edinburgh 

 Philosophical Journal,' there is a slight notice of fishes' nests found 

 on the coast of Berwickshire by Admiral Milne, but the species of 

 fish by whom they are constructed is not mentioned." And it is 

 further stated that " Mr. Duncan of Eyemouth has ascertained that 

 they belong to the Fifteen-spined Stickleback, — a fact confirmed by 

 the' Rev. Mr. Turnbull, to whom the Club is indebted for specimens." 

 The nest and habits of the fish are then accurately described ; and in 

 a concluding note it is announced that " Mr. Maclaren of Coldingham 

 had seen and watched the stickleback in the act of making the nests." 



It would therefore appear that the credit, not only of publishing 

 the first observations on this interesting subject, but also that of deter- 

 mining the fact that these nests belong to the Fifteen-spined Stickle- 

 back, is due to these gentlemen. 



In conclusion, I have to ask that you will be so obliging as to allow 

 this letter to be inserted in the forthcoming number of the * Annals.' 



I remain, dear Sir, yours truly, 



Albany Hancock. 



FOSSIL PACHYDERMATA IN CANADA. 



To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. 



Woodstock, Upper Canada, April 1852. 



Gentlemen, — I think it may be worth while to record the first 

 discovery of the remains of one of the large extinct Pachydermata in 

 Canada ; for the Mastodon's remains mentioned by Lycll are found 

 on the right hank of the Niagara, which is not in the province, 

 although so close as to be only divided from it by that river. 



At the latter end of January, in cutting through, for the transit of 

 a railway, a narrow spit of land at the head of Lake Ontario known 

 as Burlington Heights, two bones of an Elephant were discovered {E. 



