446 NOTES AND QUERIES. 



During a visit to Mr. John D. Enys, that gentleman showed 

 me a discovery of his of the Freshwater Sponge {Spongilla 

 fluviatili8, Lk.), in the fish-pond at Enys. It lived chiefly amongst 

 starwort, and he dredged it in a most novel way, with a garden 

 rake, to the handle of which he attached a long line. I brought 

 some home alive, which died down in the winter, leaving gem- 

 mules, from these, last summer, young sponges hatched, but did 

 not grow to a large size. In examining the water a few days 

 ago, in the dish in which they live, exposed to the weather, for 

 rain water is essential to their existence, 1 found a few gemmules, 

 so that I fairly anticipate a second brood of Spongilla before long. 



On the underside of the water-lilies growing abundantly in 

 the fish-pond at Enys, we also found thriving colonies of the 

 fresh-water polyzoon, Plumatella repens, L. 



Some months ago I received from the Eev.W. Iago, a small 

 box of sea-sweepings, which he had picked up at Trevone, on the 

 north coast of Cornwall. In his letter to me he says "the tide 

 was advancing and the waves were dashing up upon the sand 

 and rocks, and the margin of the water showed a black line 

 across the beach, and this line when examined revealed tens of 

 thousands of flies, ants, beetles, &c, alive, and in the course of 

 being drowned. This, as Mr. Iago remarks in another part of 

 his communication, is probably the reason why in the sunk beach 

 at Portmellin, near Mevagissey, the members of the Society saw 

 so many insect remains, during the excursion of the Society 

 there, in 1889. 



I have carefully looked over the contents of the little box, 

 which are interesting, as they not only point to a probable solution 

 of the reason why so many insects are found in our submerged 

 beaches, but are of biological importance. They point to the 

 distribution of the animals along the coast line, for if tens of 

 thousands were swept on to the coast, perhaps as many were 

 destroyed at sea, or alighted elsewhere. It is the old lesson put 

 in a new light, that thousands of organisms are destroyed to one 

 that is successful, be it lowly plant or animal. All the insects 

 sent are feeble fliers, small Geodephaga, Brachelytra, Bhgnchopora, 

 (Apion), JEupoda, {Cassida viridis, L.) from amongst the beetles; 

 ants {Formica) from amongst the Hymenoptra ; and flies {Musca 



