152 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



been dead more than ten years, aged over seventy, and therefore must have 

 been over forty years of age when he was a pupil of J. C. Belany. I always 

 understood him to say that he rlew hawks when quite a young man, and it 

 was probably to acquire the higher branches of the craft that he became 

 the pupil of J. C. Belany. I could give Mr. Salvin stronger proof if needed, 

 but I think I have said enough to show that I have made no mistake, and I 

 still must consider Morgan Williams as " one of the last of his race." — 

 E. Cambridge Phillips (Brecon, S. Wales). 



Newts in the Tadpolk Stage in Winter. — 1 should be glad to know 

 if it is not an unusual circumstauce for the Common Smooth Newt, 

 L. punctatus, to pass the winter in the tadpole state. I found several of 

 these tadpoles in a pond here at the latter eud of February, in various stages 

 of development; some having the limbs in a rudimentary state, others with 

 those organs nearly perfect ; they all retained their branchiae in a more or 

 less complete state. Out of several which I kept in a glass vessel there 

 are a few with the branchiae still remaining, but in most cases they very 

 soon became absorbed, the growth and development of the limbs being pro- 

 portionately rapid. I found during the previous winter a perfectly developed 

 Newt of the same species, hybernating under a stone, close to this pond, the 

 size of which was so extremely small that the above-mentioned tadpoles 

 were at least three times as large. They must I think have been very late 

 hatched individuals. This species seems to be liable to considerable 

 variation as regards colour and markings, this being the most observable in 

 the females ; some of the difference may, however, be owing to the recent 

 casting of the skin or the reverse. — G. T. Rope (Blaxhall, Suffolk). 



The Black Fish (Ceiitrolophus pompilus) in the Colne. — In the 

 March number of • The Annals and Magazine of Natural History ' (p. 204), 

 Dr. Gunther, in noticing the occurrence of this fish at the mouth of the 

 Colne in November last (as recorded by Dr. Laver in 'The Zoologist' for 

 February, p. 75), remarks that " the majority of British specimens of this 

 fish have been obtained on the coast of Cornwall, and so far as he is aware 

 this is the first instance known of the fish having wandered so far eastwards." 

 It may be well therefore to note that in Day's ' Fishes of Great Britain 

 and Ireland' (part ii., p. 113), instances are recorded of the occurrence of 

 this fish at Lossiemouth, Elginshire; on the Northumberland coast; 

 and at Redcar, on the Yorkshire coast. The occurrence of the last- 

 named specimen was recorded at page 3504 of ' The Zoologist' for 1852. — 

 J. E. Harting. 



