458 The Zoologist — October, 1866. 



of the Mediterranean districts. — W. O. Hammond; St.Alban's Court, near Wingham, 

 August 7, 1866. [I have no doubt the lizard is Lacerta viridis. — Edward Newmani\ 



Pupa {Vertigo) minulissima at Venlnor. — I lately took two specimens of this com- 

 puratively rare shell uuder Steephill, near Ventnor. — C. Askford ; Grove House, 

 Tottenham. 



Barnacle in a Composite Candle. — A common composite candle has just been 

 brought to me which was picked up on the heath here. It is apparently in a perfect 

 state, but in fact a full-i;ri)wn barnacle has eaten its way into it from its lower end to 

 a depth of about two and a half inches. It apparently fills the inside of this part 

 without disturbing the outside at all: the shells of the barnacle with somethiiifj less 

 than a quarter of an inch of its body hanging free from the bottom of the candle. It 

 has forced its way into the candle with so much skill (entering apparently by the wick) 

 that it has not in the least degree disturbed the bottoui of it. At present it is 

 deposited in our Museum here, but I fear we shall not be able to preserve it, I am 

 unable to say how much of the interior diameter of the caudle is occupied by the 

 barnacle. — Thomas Cornish. 



Xantho Jlnrida and X. rivulosa at Penzance. — I captured to-day Xantlio florida 

 and X. rivulosa. Tliey were taken in the same net, in about seven fathoms water. — 

 Thomas Cornish; Penzance, September 8, 1866, 



Spider or Mouse. — In reply to the bat hypothesis propounded in the communica- 

 tions of Mr. Doubleday and Mr. Newman, in the last number of the 'Zoologist' 

 (S. S. 386), I would remind those gentlemen that the deposit of wings seen ))y me at 

 Looe consisted "chiefly of butterflies' win^-s, with a few moths'." It may be pre- 

 sumptuous in me, in opposition to two such great authorities, to say that I think this 

 fact alone, unless tiiey can prove that bats feed on butterflies, does away with their 

 hypothesis, as far as my case is concerned, the fetv moths' wings also proving that 

 spiders feed on moths, and I am certain that bats could not get into this house 

 where the deposit was, there being but one opening, the doorway, the door being 

 always closed at night. Then, again, the f .ct of spiders' webs being found near the 

 deposit in the cave at Ilkley, the building at Leominster, and the small house at Looe, 

 point to the truth of the spider hypothesis. As to the grctio at Stamford River Hall, 

 Mr. Doubleday does not inform us whether there was a spider's web there; but where 

 a more likely place than a secluded grotto for such a structure? Mr. Birchall dis- 

 tinctly informs us thai there were no traces of bats in the cave at Ilkley; then surely 

 the deposit of hats' excrement at Leominster cannot be taken as proof that bats caused 

 the deposit in the cave at Ilkley. I destroy the spider's web at Looe, and all further 

 deposit of wings ceases. Mr. Xe^man clears the laudinsr and steps in the building at 

 Leominster, but leaves the spider's webs intact on the walls; the deposit of wings con- 

 tinue: without the spiders' webs on the walls being destroyed, to say the least of it, 

 this evidence in favour of the bat hypothesis is very far from satisfactory. Miss Dix 

 sees bats frequently flying in and out of a grotto at Stamford Rivers Hall, and has " no 



