OCCASIONAL NOTES. 109 
Tappote Fisa orr Pryzance.—A small specimen of Raniceps trifur- 
catus has been captured here. It was taken in a waterhole left by the 
receding ‘tide, and was captured owing to its pugnacity, which may be 
common to the species or peculiar to the individual. It was heard splashing 
about in its hole, a stem of seaweed was thrust in, and the fish laid hold of 
it and was dragged out by it.—THomas CornisH. 
ASTERINA GIBBOSA ON THE Coasr or BanrrsHirE.—While walking 
along the shore at Banff with some friends in May last, I noticed a lot 
of rubbish which the fishermen had taken from their lines, and knowing 
from experience what treasures are sometimes to be met with in such 
places, I at once began to explore on the chance. The first two heaps 
yielded nothing new or of much importance; but in the third I was well 
repaid by the discovery of a fine specimen of the above-named little Star- 
fish, Asterina gibbosa. I am not aware of the exact range of this species, 
having no book on the subject, nor do I know if-it has hitherto been 
detected as occurring in the Moray Firth. This I know, however, that the 
specimen here alluded to is the first I have ever met with. If I may offer 
the advice of an old man, let me urge upon your readers who live by the 
sea and take an interest in marine forms of animal life, never to pass the 
spots where the fishermen clean their lines without first searching them 
well. ‘They will not always be successful, that is not to be expected; but 
let them persevere, and they will sooner or later be rewarded for their 
trouble-——Tuomas Epwarp (Banff). 
[There seems to be no previous record, so far as we have been able to 
ascertain, of the occurrence of Asterina gibbosa on the east coast of Great 
Britain. In Forbes’ ‘ British Starfish’ it is said to be “apparently confined 
to the western and southern shores of Britain,” and the localities mentioned 
are Cornwall, Isle of Man, Ross-shire, Herm, Channel Isles, and all round 
the coast of Ireland. ‘To these localities, Gray, in his ‘ Synopsis of Star- 
fishes,’ adds Plymouth Sound. The habitatat now assigned to it by Mr. 
Edward, therefore, is new, and the fact is interesting as establishing the 
occurrence of this starfish much further to the north and east than has 
hitherto been supposed.— Ep. ] 
PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 
Linnean Socrety oF Lonpon. 
January 18, 1877.—Prof. Atuman, President, in the chair. 
Mr. Thomas Routledge and Mr. Samuel David Titmas were balloted for 
and duly elected Fellows of the Society. 
The “ Amphibious and Migratory Fishes of India” was the title of a very 
