236 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



identified them as Thyranopoda Couchii, Bell. The original examples when 

 obtained by Couch were constituting at that period the food of the Mackerel, 

 but they have escaped observation until about two years since. It seems 

 very probable that these crustaceans may play an important part in the 

 appearance of the Mackerel. It has been constantly remarked that Flat- 

 fishes, PleuronectidcB, are decreasing around our coasts, the result of over- 

 fishing, and one of the remedies proposed has been that Soles under six 

 inches in length should be returned to the sea. During the autumn last 

 year 1 was along the Devonshire and Dorsetshire coasts, from whence a 

 large number of small Soles are fished. I therefore closely investigated 

 the subject, and though I found very large numbers of the young of the 

 Common Sole, Solea vulgaris, were being wantonly destroyed, still the 

 majority of these small ones belonged to the Little Sole, Solea minuta, 

 which rarely exceeds three inches and a half in length, and the Thick- 

 backed Sole, Solea variegata, which is generally about five inches and a half 

 long. Should the proposition to make it penal to possess Soles less than 

 six inches in length be passed into a law, then the two last-named species 

 would escape capture, and most probably, as a result, increase in prodigious 

 numbers. Here the question arises, Do all these forms feed upon the same 

 food ? because, if they do, such an enactment would be tantamount to 

 preserving a form useless as human food, but which is consuming the 

 sustenauce required for the maintenance of our most valuable species. — 

 Francis Day (Cheltenham). 



Holibut at Penzance. — A Holibut, weighing about one cwt., was 

 taken on hook and line (Spiller), in the Bay here, on May 15th. It is a 

 rare fish in this district. — Thomas Coknish (Penzance). 



PROCEEDINGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



Linnkan Society ok London. 



April 0, 1>S82. — Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P., F.K.S., President, 

 in the chair. 



Mr. John Blaikie, Mr. C. C. Lacaita, Mr. J. W. Phillips, and Mr. John 

 B. Wilson were elected Fellows of the Society. 



Mr. Patrick Geddes exhibited aud described a series of living specimens 

 under the microscope, illustrating the presence of Ahjm in Radiolarians 

 and in certain forms of Calenterata. 



M r. Marcus M. Hartog afterwards drew attention to micioscopic sections 

 of Cyclops; and he demonstrated structural peculiarities in the eye of 

 Daiihnia, and compared it with that of certain other crustaceans. 



