266 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
tail went into its pursuer’s mouth, and there was an end of the flyer. It 
always struck me that it seemed a strain on the fish to keep the wings 
extended.—ALFRED CARPENTER, in ‘ Nature.’ 
Basking Sharks on the Coast of Cornwall,—Several Basking Sharks, 
Selachus maximus, have lately made their appearance on the Cornish coast. 
Just after having read the account given by Dr. Day, in the last number 
of ‘ The Zoologist’ (p. 235), of the specimen sent to him by Mr. Dunn, of 
Mevagissey, I received a letter from my friend Mr. Stephen Clogg, of Looe 
(who identified the species), stating that a small but good specimen of the 
Basking Shark, about nine feet in length, was caught on June 8rd in a 
Polperro drifting mackerel-net, and brought into Looe for exhibition. This 
species is but rarely captured by the Plymouth fishermen. I have never 
had but one opportunity of examining a fresh specimen. This was 
rather a large one, sixteen feet long, caught many years since near the 
Eddystone, and exhibited in the town. Of this I made a drawing ex- 
pressly for the late Mr. Couch, a copy of which may be found in the 
Appendix to his work on ‘ British Fishes,’ where it is described under 
the name of “ Broad-headed Gazer.”"—JoHn GarcomBE (Durnford Street, 
Stonehouse). 
Migration of Eels.—The eels of the ponds in the woods of Vincennes 
leave them every spring in large numbers, making their way to the Seine or 
the Marne, several kilometres distant. They take advantage of rainy 
weather, when the herbage is wet, and their instinct guides them directly 
to their destination. Fresh specimens have repeatedly been introduced 
into the lakes, but in vain; all seem to have this disposition to leave. 
Some have thought that the water of these ponds, having been brought by 
hydraulic engines, has undergone some change which drives the eels away. 
But the phenomenon of such migrations by eels and some other fishes is 
not uncommon. Thus, in the marshes of Picardy, eels are often found on 
the grass, going from one pond to another. 
BATRACHIA. 
On the Occurrence of the Palmated Newt in Oxfordshire.—My 
friend Mr. W. KR. Ogilvie-Graut has recently ascertained the existence of 
the Palmated Newt, Molge palmata, in a small horse-pond on the border 
of a wood at Wormsley, uear Stoken-Church. This is the first record of 
the occurrence of that species in Oxfordshire. In order to assist the 
readers of this Journal in completing our knowledge of the distribution of 
this local, though by no means rare, Batrachian, the following list of the 
counties whence it has hitherto been recorded—information at present 
scattered in various works, and volumes of ‘ The Zoologist —is appeuded :— 
Scotland.—Sutherland, Edinburgh, Kirkcudbrightshire. E’ngland.—Here- 
fordshire, Gloucestershire, Cornwall, Devoushire, Somersetshire, Dorsetshire, 
