954 The Zoologist— October, 18G7. 



natives have a great prejudice against them, aud will not touch them, 

 believing them to be deadly poisonous. 



COTHBERT COLLINGWOOD. 



Variety of the Perch. — While fishing with trimmers in Virginia Water, near 

 Windsor, last July, we caught a perch without any of the usual transverse lines per- 

 ceptible. It was a large fish, but in bad condition : it weighed just 2lt>s. The same 

 absence of. the transverse bauds or lines in this specimen, was noticed in Mr. Gunn's 

 fish, mentioned in the' Zoologist' (S. S. 513). — A. Clark-Kennedy. 



Ianlhina fragilis in Dingle Day. — On the 27th of August I found on the shore at 

 Dingle Bay several specimens of Ianlhina fragilis ; they were quite alive, and had the 

 peculiar apparatus of bubbles attached to them. I picked up ten beautiful specimens 

 in a distance of about a mile. A great many more were destroyed by the oystcrcatchers, 

 whivh were on the look out for them. The shore was strewed with the remains of 

 Velella (lutea?) : several of these were almost perfect and were covered with the beau- 

 tiful purple jelly-like covering. There had been a fresh breeze from the S.W., but no 

 gale of wind. — E. C. Buxton; Darcsbury Hall, Warrington, August 29, 1867. 



Mackerel in the Boulogne Aquarium. — Under this title I inserted what appeared 

 to me a m >st interesting extract from the ' Field' newspaper (S. S. 917). Its publica- 

 tion in that excellent journal seems to have excited the animosity of Mr. Lloyd, 

 the curator of the Aquarium at Hamburgh, who wrote a captious aud somewhat 

 offensive commentary on Mr. Smith's paper, which commentary also appeared 

 in the 'Field,' Mr. Lloyd now asks me to reprint this commentary, but as it 

 gives no additional information I prefer extracting from the 'Field' of the 21st of 

 September, Mr. Smith's final reply to Mr. Lloyd's strictures, inasmuch as this 

 reply will itself show to what passages in Mr. Smith's prior communication 

 Mr. Lloyd takes exception. The subject of salt-water aquariums has for many 

 years been one of unceasing interest to myself, and this must be my apology, if 

 one be needed, for again introducing it to my readers. — E. Newman. 



Keeping Mackerel in Aquaria. — In writing to the 'Field' an account of the intro- 

 duction of mackerel into the aquarium of Boulogne, and of their conservation therein, 

 I did not think it necessary to describe at length the aquarium itself, or even to specify 

 the nature of those defects in its structure of which I hinted the existence. The ob- 

 servation of my friend Mr. W. Alford Lloyd, however, in the ' Field' of August 31st, 

 that the aquarium of this town " is not what is ordinarily termed an aquarium, but a 

 marine pond having sea-water pumped into it by a steam engine," might mislead many 

 persons, not so well instructed in these matters as that gentleman, into supposing that 

 the arrangements thus described possess some advantages over the arrangements 

 ordinarily adopted for keeping marine animals in inland situations. I therefore beg to 

 state that the sole advantage resulting to the Boulogne aquarium from its proximity to 

 the sea consists in the facility thus afforded for obtaining animals either for exhibition 

 or for food; and that it is not only possible, but easy, to construct aquaria in inland 

 towns which would be capable of maintaining marine fishes for longer periods than 

 those during which the same creatures could at present be kept alive in the aquarium 

 above named. I will also— to save interrogation on this point — indicate the serious 



