206 NOTES ON THE FAUNA OE FALMOUTH. 



A few coils of spawn deposited by Archidoris tuberculata 

 were observed on. the vertical piles of wood wbich. form tbe 

 eastern breakwater, on the 19th Feb., 1898. During 1899 not a 

 single specimen of the adult mollusk could be found anywhere in 

 the harbour. I made a special point of hunting for this species 

 for the benefit of a friend who was anxious to obtain specimens, 

 but I was unsuccessful. 



The sides of the coal hulks below water-line which usually 

 form such excellent collecting places were quite bare of nudi- 

 branchs till the last few days of 1899, when a large number of 

 Goniodoris castanea and a few G. nodosa were found. Speci- 

 mens of Aeolis coronata and Antiopa cristata were also fairly 

 abundant. 



Only one specimen of Aplysia punctata, about 13 cm. in 

 length was found during these years. This was picked up on the 

 5th July, 1898, on a bed of Zostera in the docks. During the 

 spring and summer of 1889 large specimens abounded in similar 

 places not only in the harbour but also at Helford. Since then, 

 only stray specimens have been seen, and these in the majority of 

 instances have been small. 



Owing to the exceptionally high temperature of the sea 

 during the months of July and August, 1899, a very heavy fall 

 of oyster spat occurred in Falmouth harbour and Truro river. 

 Certainly, this ' fall ' is the heaviest which has taken place in this 

 district within the past ten years ; and I doubt if it was beaten 

 by the memorable ' fall of spat ' which occur ed in 1887. 



Crustacea. One of the most striking instances of the dis- 

 persal of marine animals by human agency that has ever come 

 under my notice was detected during the spring of 1898. The 

 facts of the case are these : Towards the end of March, the 

 southern shores of Great Britain and Ireland were visited by a 

 severe gale ; exceptionally stormy weather being experienced by 

 those vessels which happened to be at that time at the mouth of 

 the channel. Among the chief sufferers who survived to tell the 

 tale was the crew of a Liverpool barque, of about 500 tons, 

 named "E-uthen." This vessel had taken on board some time 

 previously a cargo of guano, obtained from a small island named 

 Lobos on the Patagonian coast, situated about mid- way between 



