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FAUNA NOTES FOR 1897. 

 By RUPKRT VALLEINTIN, Falmouth. 



The absence of Tetraspores from the neighbourhood of 

 Falmouth during the spring of the year, is of sufficient 

 importance to call for special notice. It usually happens that 

 towards the end of every March, the employment of the tow- 

 net, for capturing pelagic forms, has to be discontinued for a 

 month or six weeks, owing to the abundance of these organisms 

 in the sea ; but this year, from some cause or other, they were 

 almost absent, and would have entirely escaped notice unless 

 the tow-net had been freely used. 



Infusoria. The extreme scarcity of Noetiluca miliaris in 

 this district is also of interest. I made a special point of 

 hunting for specimens of this Infusorian since the beginning of 

 the year, but it was not till the 8th of April, that a single 

 specimen was found, in the gathering made that morning. 

 During the early part of the autumn — 15th September — a fair 

 quantity of Noetiluca were secured, but the wind soon changed 

 to the north, a ad since then they have vanished from the 

 neighbourhood. 



There is a singularly delicate little Infusorian usually to be 

 met with in the upper reaches of both Truro river and Penryn 

 creek during the summer months ; and after prolonged northerly 

 winds these specimens may even be found in the tidal docks, 

 but never in any quantity beyond that spot, I have been 

 familiar with this species for some years, having first seen them 

 during the summer of 1890. Quite recently, while examining 

 some of the plates in The Annales du Musee d'histoire Naturelle 

 de Marseille,^ I found some figures of an Infusorian which 

 agreed in every feature with the above-noticed species, and 

 which is named by its discoverer Campanella pelagica. 



Medusa. Ephyrae were exceptionally scarce in the spring 

 of the year, and as a natural consequence the adult medusa, 

 Aurelia aurita was almost absent from the district during the 

 whole summer. I made several trips up Truro river as fa^ as 



