Miscellaneouf!. ' 293 



On the White-toothed American Beaver. 

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



The British Museum lately received from Dr. R. Brown three 

 skulls of the American Beaver, which agree in all particulars, and 

 especially in the form of the nasal bones, with the usual American- 

 beaver skulls ; but thej differ from them in having white cutting- 

 teeth, or with a more or less yellow tinge ; all other American 

 and European beavers I have seen have dark red-brown cutting- 

 teeth. The variety may be catalogued as Castor canadensis Jeuco- 

 donta. I believe these skulls were procured on the north-west coast 

 of America ; but Dr. R. Brown did not state any special locality. 



On the Occurrence of Beania mirabilis and Labrus mixtus at East- 

 bourne, Sussex. By F. C. S. Roper, F.L.S. &c. 



To the Editors of the Anmds and Magazine of Natural History, 



Gentlemen, — The beauty and variety of animal and vegetable 

 life on the rock-bound shores of our south-western and northern 

 coasts, where every pool abounds with zoophytes, sponges, and algae 

 in profusion, has long made them favourite hunting-grounds for 

 all Avho are interested in these branches of natural history. Many 

 of the small and rare species of zoophytes are only recorded as oc- 

 curring either on the coasts of Devon or Cornwall, of which the marine 

 zoology has been so well worked up by the labours of Couch, Gosse, 

 and the Rev. T. Hincks, or on the shores of Yorkshire or Northum- 

 berland, by Bean, Johnston, and others. The south and south-eastern 

 coasts, where chalky, argillaceous, or sandy strata occur, are less 

 favourable to the growth of these productions, and, as a necessary 

 consequence, have not received the same amount of attention. At 

 the same time I have little doubt that a careful search would be 

 rewarded by the discovery of many species at present only known 

 as inhabitants of more favoured localities. As an instance of this, 

 I have to record the occurrence on the shore at Eastbouiyie of one 

 of the rarest of the Polyzoa noticed by Dr. Johnston, the Beania 

 mirahilis, which appears hitherto only to have been found at 

 Scarborough (by Mr. Bean, its discoverer), at Peterhead, on our 

 northern coasts, where it is said to be very rare, and at several 

 localities in Devon and Cornwall, where, according to the Rev. T. 

 Hincks's ' Catalogue of South-Devon and Cornish Zoophytes,' it is 

 more abundant. The specimen I met with was growing at the base 

 of a mass of Flustra foliacea thrown up on the shore by the late 

 heavy gales ; and, as Dr. Landsborough observes, the species "is so 

 insignificant when seen by the naked eye, that it would easily be 

 passed over as undeserving of regard." The specimen I have is 

 barely one-fourth of an inch in length, with about eight of the pe- 

 culiar calycles attached standing up erect from the radicles, which 

 ramify over the lower part of the Flustra. From its occurrence on 

 this zoophyte, it would appear to bo from deep water rather than 

 from the immediate vicinity of the shore, and probably, by dredging, 

 might be procured in a living state. 



Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 4. VoI.'iy. 21 



