3654 The Zoologist — August, 1873. 



its greatest breadth two feet eight inches : it weighed fifty pounds. I have 

 saved its jaws. — J. S. Bowei'hank ; 2, East Ascent, St. Leonards-oti-Sea, 

 July 18, 1873. 



Octopus rnlgaris at Penzance. — I yesterday obtained a hving specimen 

 of Octopus vulgaris, but unfortunately failed to keep it alive. It measured 

 from the hinder end of the sac to the extreme end of the longest arm two 

 feet eight inches and a half. The sac to the mouth was eleven inches and 

 a half, and to the eye eight inches; across the sac measured a trifle over 

 six inches in the widest part. — Thomas Cornish ; May 28, 1873. 



Large Lobster. — In the Guernsey market, on the 19th of July, there was 

 a fine lobster, which had been caught in Coles Bay. Its length, from head 

 to tail, measured twenty inches : its claws were five inches and a quarter in 

 width ; its weight twelve and a half English pounds. This is not so large 

 as the one caught at Plymouth, and mentioned in the July number of the 

 ' Zoologist' (S. S. 3618), but is still, I think, worth noticing. — C. B. Carey. 



Scjilarns Arctus at St. Leonards.— I have a very fine specimen of Scyllarus 

 Arctus, found on the rocks of our coast. I had it fresh from the sea, and 

 preserved it myself; it is in fine condition, and is five inches long. It is not 

 described in Bell's ' Crustacea ' as a British species. — J. S. Bowerhank, 



A Difliculty for Darwinists. — The current number of the ' Zoologist ' 

 commences with a paper by Mr. F. H. Balkwill, having the pretentious 

 title, "A Difficulty for Darwinists," in which, like many others who do not 

 fully understand the subject, he lays too much stress on the possibility of 

 bligbt variations in an infinite number of directions. No doubt it is 

 theoretically possible for an infinite number of variations to occur in living 

 bodies, if they are within the influence of an infinite number of different 

 forces, just as the result of a very large number of forces acting on a particle 

 may cause it to take one of almost an infinite number of directions. But 

 the forces acting on the living body are comparatively limited; and when — 

 as in the cases of the thylacine and the dog, or of the wombat and the 

 rodent, which are the author's stumbling-blocks — the forces which have been 

 called to act on the marsupial and placental types of organism have been 

 practically identical, they having had to undergo the struggle for existence 

 under similar circumstances, it is not to be wondered at, but only to be 

 expected, that similar organisms should be the result, especially as the two 

 types to start with are not separated by any great interval. It is just as 

 probable, external circumstances being similar, that the isolated marsupial 

 ancestor should give rise to carnivorous, rodent, and herbivorous forms, as that 

 they should be developed from a placental type. — 'Nature,' July 24, 1873. 



[1 thought the marsupial and placental types were separated by a very 

 great interval ; but I shall be pleased to receive and pubhsh Mr. Balkwill's 

 reply to this objection. — E. Newman.] 



