74 JOURNAL OF CONXHOI.OGY, VOI,. I4, NO, 3, JULY, I913. 



specimens which are recorded by Mr. Simpson, but without locaHty 

 and depth, though probably between the Orkneys and Faroes ■} and 

 Mr. TomHn's collection contains several examples from deep water 

 off the Western Shetlands. 



T. papulosa Marsh., /our/i. of Conch., 1887, vol. v., pp. 186-90, and 

 p. 278, pi. i., figs. 1-3; Sowerby's 111. Ind. Brit. Shells, p. xvi., with 

 woodcut. — This proves to be the same species as T. striata D'Orb., a 

 cretaceous fossil shell. 



Terebratella spitzbergensis Dav.— On the slope of the English 

 Channel, 69of., two young specimens ('Porcupine') ! 



Atretia gnomon Jeff. — This is a very interesting addition to 

 British conchology. Mr. James Simpson, in one of the summer 

 cruises of the Scottish Fishery Commissioners, obtained a specimen 

 from the Minch in (y^i. It was "brought up in the small trawl 

 perfectly fresh, and to all appearance had been alive when taken up."' 

 K gnomon was originally dredged during the 'Valorous' expedition to 

 Greenland. 



Argiope Desh. — According to Monterosato" Argiope was adopted 

 by Savigny and Audouin for a genus of spiders in 1827, which is 

 prior to Argiope Desh. (1842), after which comes Megathyris D'Orb. 



(1847). 



Gwynia capsula Jeff.— Clyde (Scott) ! off Robm Hood Bay, on 



the Scarborough coast, 30-3 5 f- (Brady). 



The Platydia anomidides of Scacc. and Phil., a very rare brachiopod, 

 has been dredged off the Butt oY Lewis in 305 f. by the ' Knight 

 Errant.' 



Ostrea edulis L. — The little Shetland oyster (var. tincta Jeff.) is 

 smaller than the British native (var. rutupina Jeff.), highly coloured 

 inside, and does as little in the house-building line as it possibly can. 

 The largest (var. hippopus Jeff.) appears to thrive best on some parts 

 of the Irish coast, notably Belfast and in the Belfast estuarine deposits, 

 specimens frequently weighing 2-lbs. and over. One specimen was 

 dredged off county Down in 1895 which was 21 in. in circumference, 

 weighed 38 oz., and was " considered to be 60 years old " ! though 

 how the latter estimate was arrived at is not clear. Another huge 

 oyster was dredged by a fisherman at Williamstown in 1893 which 

 was two feet in circumference, 17 in. in diameter, and weighed 7-lbs., 

 while a huge valve in the Belfast Museum, from the Belfast deposit, 

 is 5-lbs. in weight. 



The oyster as a rule spawns in May, June, and part of July, and is 

 then more or less unwholesome. The spawn or spat is at first of a 



1 Journ. of Conch., 1910, vol. 13, p. 115. 



2 Notes on Rare Moli., /<;«;-«. of Conch., 1910, vol. 13, p. 115. 



3 NonieiickiUiia, p. i. 



