The Zoologist — September, 1871. 2763 



tide. On a sunny uoon in the autumn of 1868 I observed a seal, not far 

 from the same place, with a salmon in his mouth, which he forced through 

 the meshes of a stake-net. The struggling salmon, whose head was in the 

 jaws of the seal, struck the water violently with his tail, which gleamed like 

 a lustre in the lessening ray. The seal rose and sank alternately, keeping 

 seaward to escape Eleys' cartridges from the shore. When above the water 

 he shortened the silver bar, which continued to lash his sides long after its 

 thickest part had disappeared, by rising to his perpendicular, as if to allow 

 the precious metal by its own weight to slip into his crucible. The seal 

 evidently swallowed above, and masticated below, water — the process lasting 

 about twelve minutes, during which the seal had travelled a full half-mile. — 

 W. Craibe Angus; Aberdeen, June 10, 1871. 



Spider or Mouse. — I must once more return to the old story of " Spider 

 or Mouse," which I think by this time you must wish at the bottom of the 

 sea or elsewhere. I have kept the same spider that I last year mentioned to 

 you, and whilst feeding it a day or two since with a specimen of Polyommatus 

 Phlseas, I distinctly saw it nip off one of the wings and throw it away with 

 a sudden jerk. I enclose the wing for your inspection, by which you will 

 see that it was bitten off, not torn from the joint. Again, whilst out 

 mothing a few evenings since, I saw a bat (I do not know of what species) 

 take Ourapteryx sambucata, and then and there swallow body, wings and 

 all its belongings, without taking the trouble to return to his "den" for 

 the purpose of devouring it, thus reminding me of the 



" Cassowary, 

 On the plains of Timbuctoo, 

 Who swallowed up the missionary, 

 ,^.i,, ..Hat and coat, and hymn-book too." 



Thus I remain of the same opinion I started with, that spiders had to 

 do with the deposits of moths' wings in the various places named during the 

 late controversy ; and without further proof that Mr. Doubleday has seen 

 bats bite off moths' wings, and Mr. Newman is convinced that bats feed on 

 butterflies, I must remain unconvinced to the contrary. — Stephen Clogg ; 

 East Looe, Cornwall. 



Arrival of llligrauts. — March 19th, chiffchaff. April 2ud, willow wren ; 

 3rd, wheatear ; 7th, bank or sand martin ; 9th, swallow ; 10th, martin, 

 cuckoo, yellow or Ray's wagtail ; 16th, nightingale (heard each season, and 

 generally protected from the birdcatchers while rearing their broods) ; 

 18th, redstart; 24th, whinchat, whitethroat, tree pipit. May 3rd, spotted 

 flycatcher; 5th, garden warbler, grasshopper warbler; 6th, landrail or corn 

 crake ; 11th, wood wren ; 20th, swift. The only summer visitants yet 

 unreported are the pied flycatcher and the goatsucker or nightjar, which 



