2388 The Zoologist— November, 1870. 



Large Rnach in the Avon. — The roach in the Atod at Salisbury are large and 

 numerous. I have during the last three weeks caught many, one of which weighed 

 two pounds and a half, and is preserved by a local bird-sluffer, and is now in my 

 possession. I only caught two under one pound and a half.— i^row the ^ Field.' 



[I much regret the practice of newspaper correspondents in declining to furnish 

 their name and address as a voucher for tiie bond Jide character of their communica- 

 tions. A roach of two pounds and a half weight is very unusual. — E. Newman ] 



Strange Discovery in IVales. — In the vale of Clwyd, at a distance of two miles from 

 the cathedral city of St. Asaph, are situated the Cefu Caves, which prove of much 

 interest lo the summer visitors to Rhyl and its neighbourhood. The cares are two in 

 number, a higher and a lower. The entrance to the former and more extensive is 

 about midway up the cliff, which is there almost perpendicular; the entrance to the 

 latter is on a level with the bank of the river Elwy, which skirts the cliff, and during 

 floods the waters rise high over its mouih. It was in this cave that the discovery was 

 made last Monday. It had been rumoured of late that parties visiting this place had 

 on several occasions seen some strange auimal creeping in its dark recesses, and on 

 Saturday visitors reported having had a good view of him, and stated it was a huge 

 beast of the lizard tribe. On the Monday following Thomas Hughes, from Rhyl, went 

 to try to capture him. Armed with a stout stick, he approached its reported lair, but 

 not seeing it he decided to remain in ambush at the moutii of the cave, sheltered by a 

 projecting ledge. After having thus wailed an hour his patience was rewarded with 

 success. He could hear in the far end a hum as of a hive of bees. The sound 

 growing louder, and now apparently quite close, Hughes peeped round the ledge and 

 saw the monster within three yards of him. He (Hughes) sprang towards him, and 

 dexterously wielding his slick he dealt him a well-aimed blow upon the neck just 

 behind the head, which caused him to stagger and reel. One more blow in the 

 abdomen finished him. Hughes carried him home in triumph, and is now making a 

 profit out of the affair by exhibiting him at Rhyl. The monster is of the lizard tribe, 

 as mentioned above. Only that our country was destitute of those creatures, we should 

 have said it was a young crocodile. It measures from the nose lo the end of ils tail 

 exactly four feet seven inches, the tail being rather more than half that length. Ils 

 limbs measure twelve inches ; the (ore ones have five toes, and the hind ones four; it 

 is webfooled. Above it is black, and white beneath. Its coat is mailed, quite hard, 

 and protruding in sharp corners and angles, like the crocodile's. The bead is low and 

 flat, the mouih large and round at ibe end, measuring seven inches by three inches ; 

 the teeth are numerous, but small, and bear great resemblance to those of a cod-fish. 

 There is ample scope here for naturalists to investigate the how and wherefore this 

 strange amphibian came to be discovered in the present epoch among the hills of 

 North Wales.—' Times,' of October 20. 



[The fact that the 'Times' has inserted this not only without giving its authority, 

 but also without any expression of doubt, leads one to suppose that the Edilor at least 

 did not regard it as a hoax. The ' Echo,' however, states editorially that the crocodile 

 died in a travelling menagerie, and was purchased for exhibition by the valiant 

 Thomas Hughes. — £. Newman.'] 



