^62 Field Notes. 



between the two Sundays had been very inclement, indeed, 

 during the whole of September the weather has been vile and 

 not at all the kind to tempt a bird like the Swift to linger in 

 this country. — R. Fortune. 



CRUSTACEA. 



Chirocephalus diaphanus from Yorkshire. — Notices of 

 the distribution of inland Crustacea, other than Woodlice, are 

 for some reason difficult to obtain ; perhaps few naturalists 

 are interested in the group. Hence an}' records of the less 

 well-known species are of interest. The Phyllopoda include, 

 according to Weldon (Cambridge Natural History, vol. IV.) 

 only three British species. Of these, Apus cancriformis Schaeffer, 

 and Artemia scilina Linn, have almost disappeared from the 

 British fauna, the latter occurring only in brine pools. Chir- 

 ocephalus diaphamis Prevost, appears occasionally in small 

 muddy pools which are liable to dry up during the summer. 

 I have found no mention of its occurrence in Yorkshire, but 

 am able to record it from Wadsley Bridge, near Sheffield, having 

 had, this year, specimens from a small pond in that neighbour- 

 hood. The species is probably distributed in the form of ova 

 in the dried mud of the pond. — J. M. Brown, Sheffield. 



MAMMALS, 

 Changes in the Colour of the Pine Marten. — With 

 reference to Dr. F. D. Welch's letter (p. 303), observations 

 on my pet Marten show that all the different shades and 

 colours are due to the fading of the coat. It is extraordinary 

 how the fur fades, and how different the animal looks at different 

 times of the year. The moult takes place from May onwards, 

 and there is a considerable addition of fur in October. The 

 throat is only really yellow after the spring moult and when 

 the new winter coat is coming in the autumn. This yellow 

 tint is most fugitive and is gone in a week or two. All the fur 

 fades, and many museum specimens are so bleached as to be 

 unrecognisable. The skin mentioned as being a ' dirt}' 

 whitish ' sounds merely faded ; at any rate I have seen fur 

 fade on the living animal from a deep chocolate brown to a 

 yellowish drab, and on old specimens set up and exposed to 

 the light become quite white.— (Miss) Frances Pitt. 



Prof. A. Meek writes to Nature of September 19th, describing the 

 shower of Sand-eels near Sunderland recently referred to in this Journal. 

 He identifies the species as the lesser sand-eel, Ammodyies tobiavus. 



Naturalist, 



