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Reptiles— Fishes. 9145 
The Crocodile—Mr. Smith’s observation from Herodotus is worth notice,—the 
smallness of the egg compared with the size of the crocodile. Herodotus also makes 
auother curious observation—and a true one: he says the crocodile is the “ only wild 
beast which has no tongue,” and therefore, as the saying is, this hideous animal may 
be called “ unique.’"—H. W. Newman ; Hillside, Cheltenham, February 27, 1864. 
A Five-spined Stickleback in Britain.—Are you aware of the occurrence, in Britain, 
of a stickleback with five spines? I recently took a hundred and forty of these little 
fishes for examination, from a trout stream near Warrington. About one-half of them 
were the three-spined smooth-tailed stickleback, the other half consisting chiefly of the 
ten-spined S. pungitius, Z., with three or four of the four-spined G. spinulosus, and 
one nondescript species with five spines. In this specimen, which is about 1} inch 
long, the spines are long and slender, the second one being the longest ; the forehead 
and the lower jaw apparently form a more obtuse angle than in the allied species 
G. spinulosus, thus giving the head a truncate appearance. TI presented this, with 
the four-spined ones, to Mr. Cooper, for the Museum, and he placed them in spirits. 
Is it not strange that the species which Yarrell describes as the commonest (G, trachurus) 
should not be found about here ?—John Peers ; Warrington, May 9, 1864. 
[This information is highly interesting, and it seems a favourable opportunity for 
expressing my opinion that our British species of Gasterosteus are at present very 
imperfectly understood. I am only acquainted with three species : (1) G. aculeatus; 
common everywhere, and embracing Yarrell’s G. trachurus, G. semiarmatus and 
G. leiurus, which I find it impossible to Separate ; (2) G. levis of Cuvier —G. pun- 
gitius of Yarrell ; and, lastly (3), G. spinachia, a very well known marine species, and 
a great favorite in our aquariums.— Edward Newman]. 
Angel-fish and Pilot-fish at Penzance.—On the 7th inst., in Mount’s Bay, I took 
an angel-fish (or movk ; not the angler, sometimes also called angel) nearly four feet 
long over all, and two feet nine inches across the wings. Whilst lying in the boat 
the fish extruded naturally twelve young ones, all alive, perfect in shape, and about 
nine inches long. After it was landed it added nine more to its family, but this time 
uuder the influence of the knife. I caught a similar fish about this time last year, 
from which I took thirteen young ones. On the &th inst. I had brought to me a pilot- 
fish of unusually dark colour, the transverse bands almost black, and the ground colour 
a silvery gray, having a perfectly smooth tongue, and on the vomer a rough, rasp-like 
bone, but no tooth. In the sacred cause of Science I ate that pilot-fish: I found it 
something like a dry mackerel. This morning I captured a P. corrugatus, and about 
ten days ago I took a Galathea strigosa ; both of them my second specimens here,— 
Thomas Cornish ; Penzance, June 11, 1864. 
Pilot-fish and Large Mackerel at Penzance.—A pilot-fish, not so large as the one 
I noted two or three days ago, bas just followed one of our mackerel boats into the 
harbour here, where it was caught ina bucket. It was very dark in colour, but more 
blue than the one I had. I have just measured a mackerel having the following 
dimensions :—Length, from eye to fork, 142 inches; length over all, 173 inches. 
Girth, round the shoulder at the origin of the pectorals, 8} inches ; greatest girth, over 
the dorsal, precisely where its hinder end touches the back when laid flat, 9$ inches, 
Weight, 2 tbs, 4 0z.—Id. ; June 14, 1864. 
VOL. XXII. 20 
