110 



THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



great height or extent on the eastern coast of Scotland on which it is not seen. 

 Many pairs breed in the upper part of MofFatdale in Dumfries-shire. Holyhead, the 

 Great Orme's Head, the Rock of Llandedno in Caernarvonshire, various parts of De- 

 vonshire and Cornwall, the Isle of Wight, and many other places, arc mentioned as 

 favorite resorts. According to authors, it is found over the whole of North Ame- 

 rica, in the southern division of that continent, in Australia, at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and in most countries of Europe. 



Although a very beautiful bird, tht* Peregrine, when perched on a rock, or flying 

 across its face, does not present so imposing an object as one might imagine from 

 viewing a stuffed skin in a museura, for the grey colour of its upper parts blends with 

 tl:e tints of the stone, and its sharp wings and rapid flight have the effect of render- 

 ing its apparent size much less than that of the Buzzard. Its mode of flying differs 

 greatly from that of the Buzzards and Eagl<'s, and affords a good example of one of 

 the most remarkable varieties. Birds which have the body bulky, and the wings 

 short and rounded, as the Grouse and Partridge, have a direct flight, not generally 

 rapid ; those which have the body full, the wings long and sharp, have also a direct 

 steady flight, but generally rapid, as is the case with the Peregrine and the Rock 

 Pigeon. Birds having the body light and the wings short, as the Gallinuies, also 

 fly steadily, but with comparatively little speed. When the wings are large and 

 broad, as in the Heron, the flight is sedate, and capable of being long prutracted. 

 When they are very long and rather narrow, it is unsteady and undulating, as in 

 some Owls and Gulls ; and when the body is very slender, and the wings extremely 

 long, there is produced that unsteady, bounding, gliding, and buoyant flight, so re- 

 markable in the Terns or Sea-swallows. 



Besides the Jer Falcon and Peregrine, there occur in Britain four smaller species 

 of this genus, namely, the Hobby, the IMerlin, the Kestrel, and the Red-legged 

 Falcon. Of the latter only flve or six individuals have hitherto been met with. 

 The Hobby is also very rare ; but the Kestrel is, next to the Sparrow Hawk, the 

 most common of our birds of prey ; and the Merlin, the smallest of ihem, is by no 

 means rare in Scotland, where it breeds on the moors and rocky headlands. 



The Merlin. — In a paper entitled "Contributions to the Natural History of 

 Ireland," by W. Thomson, Esq., in the June number of the Magazine of Zoology 

 and Botany, is the following notice respecting the Merlin: — " On March the 9th, 

 1832, when walking on the shore of Belfast Bay, as the tide was flowing, a Merlin, 

 which flew past me, was observed for some time coursing above the uncovered banks, 

 the edge of the waves being the limit to its flight. This at once led me to believe 

 that he was in search of prey, which was confirmed by his giving chase to a large 

 flock of Dunlins (Tringa variabilis), in pursuit of which he disappeared. From the 

 oldest of the '■'shore-shooters" in Belfast Bay, I have heard, that frequently, but 

 chiefly in the autumn, he has seen hawks, W'hich, from his description, were considered 

 to be the Merlin, follow and kill Dunlins on the banks at low water. This the above 

 circumstance, witnessed by myself, tends to corroborate. I am not aware that the 

 Merlins thus resorting to the sea-shore have been before noticed. The weather was 

 mild in such instances." In a work entitled " Descriptions of the Rapacious Birds 

 of Great Britain," by W. MacGillivray, pubUshed in 1836, Mr Thomson will find 

 the following paragraph : — ■" In September 1832, I had an opportunity of observing 

 a I\Ierlin in pursuit of a Sanderling. It came up as 1 was shooting along the shore 

 at Musselburgh, searched about for some time, flying in various directions at a height 

 of an hundred yards or so, until at length spying the bird of which it had probably 

 been in chase before I observed it, it rushed after it. The Sanderling doubled, and 

 endeavoured to escape by skulking among the stones, but the Merlin kept constantly 

 over it, without, however, attempting to seize it when on the ground. The chase 

 continued for some time, when I observed that the Merlin had perched upon a stone ; 

 when, thinking that it had secured its prey, I endeavoured to get within shot of it. 

 On my going up to it, however, it rose, and soon after the Sanderling made its ap- 

 pearance, apparently undecided as to the course it ought to take, on which the Merlin 

 swept towards it in a deep curve and seized it. But now the Hawk became in its 

 turn the pursued party, and on its alighting to feast near one of the bathing-machines, 

 I ran up and shot it from behind the cover." 



Larv^ in the Human Stomach and Intestines The following report by 



Messrs Duraeril and Blainville is the substance of an Essay presented by M, 

 Robineau Desvoidy to the French Academy of Sciences. A woman, aged 57, was 

 affected with drop=y of the abdomen after a mucous fever. On the 3d March 1836, 

 there were administered to her six drops of the oil of Croton Tiglium^ in three equal 

 doses., each at the interval of an hour. Among the matters ejected by vomiting, 

 four living caterpillars were first observed, and afterwards ten more of the same kind. 

 Two of them were enveloped in paper by the medical attendant, who carried them 

 with him, but afterwards lost them. The rest were sent to one of his friends, who 

 transmitted them to M. Robineau. They were preserved in alcohol, and four of 

 them were submitted to the examination of the reporters. 



M. Robineau has accurately determined the similarity of these caterpillars to those 

 of a species of moth designated by Linnaeus as the Pyralis pingidnalis^ but of which 

 the generic name was changed by Fabricius to Crambus, and again by Latreille to 

 Aglossa, on account of the shortness of the tongue. The history of the develop- 

 ment of these insects being well known, M. Robineau supposes that the origin of 

 the larvae in question ought to be attributed to the deposition of eggs by the parent 

 moth in some fat alimentary substances, and their subsequent introduction into the 

 stomach, where they were hatched and developed. 



Being of opinion that Aglossa pinguinalis does not live in society, he considers 

 these worms as of a new species, to which he gives the name of intestinalis. The 

 reporters, however, are satisfied that they are of the first species, and that the author 

 has probably been deceived by supposing that these caterpillars must have been de- 

 veloped in the duodenum, an opi.ni(m which he rests only on the report of the physi- 

 cian, who stated that there was a fixed and excruciating pain in the region corre- 

 sponding to that part of the intestine. M. Rohinean does not believe that the pre- 

 sence of these insects had determined the nature of the disease, but thinks that the 

 mucous fever was a circumstance which favored their development. Supposing that 

 these larvae were those of a distinct species, living only in society and in the intestinal 



canal, the author asks by what signs their prfjsence may be discovered and their 

 evacuation procured ; but expresses his opinion that in the case in question their ex- 

 pulsion was effected solely by chance. 



The reporters then state that the memoir is interesting in a pathological point of 

 view, as it affords an authentic instance of living caterpillars existing in the alimen- 

 tary canal, and give an account of the notices respecting the species in question, which 

 they have found in various works. 



In the Stockholm Transactions for 1837 is a memoir by Rolander on the species 

 of Pyralis, of which he has given a full account, accompanied with a plate illustra- 

 tive of its successive changes. He describes the organization of the caterpillar, and 

 in particular that of its stigmata, which permit it to live a long time and respire in 

 the midst of fat substances, such as butter, suet, lard, and soup ; and declares that 

 he has very frequently found them in food, such as broth, cabbage, and pease. 



Linnajus, in the second edition of the Fauna Suecica, published in 1761, after 

 repeating Rolander 's observation, adds : This caterpillar is very injurious in the 

 human stomach, and may be expelled by an infusion of Lichen cvmatiHs. In 

 Gmelin's edition it is said to be common in houses and kitchens, less frequent in the 

 human stomach, and of all animals that live in others the most pernicious. 



De Geer, in his Memoirs, has described and figured the same insect. Lastly, the 

 synonyms have been accurately given by M. Duponchel, who has himself exhibited 

 a perfect figure of it, in his great work on the Lepidoptera of France. 



In conclusion, the reporters think that the caterpillars of Aglossa pinguinalis, 

 may be introduced from without, along with fat or oily food into the cavity of the 

 human stomach ; that they have the faculty of remaining alive there for a certain 

 time ; but that this is merely a chance occurrence, and that there is no reason for 

 believing these larvEe to be parasitic. 



The Tree PiriT. — " We have lately discovered," says the Editor of the 

 Naturalist, *'that the Tree Pipit (Anthus arhoreus) is in the constant habit of wag- 

 ging its tail slowly up and down when perched. This circumstance, which appears 

 to have escaped the notice of all previous writers, and is not recorded in our own 

 Song Birds^ is not only interesting in itself, but valuable in a systematic point of 

 view. It proves the close relationship of the more ai'boreal Pipits to the Wagtails, 

 which they also resemble in having short crooked hind-claws. We believe the 

 Meadow Pipit does not wag its tail, or if it does, we have not noticed it." All our 

 Pipits wag their tails, but not slowly up and down, and none more conspicuously so 

 than the Meadow and Dusky Pipits, which are not arboreal. 



Tlie Meadow Pipit is a very common bird in most parts of Scotland and England, 

 being met with on moors, in pastures, meadow-land, and cultivated fields. In the 

 haunts of the Grey Ptarmigan, on the stony summits of the central Grampians, 

 in the grassy valleys of the Highland streams, in the fertile plains of the south, 

 and on the downs that border the sea, it is equally at home ; but it is more abun- 

 dant in the green pastures that flank the upland glens, and on the sedgy moors of 

 the interior. There it is seen at all seasons, in small companies, flying about in its 

 peculiar wavering manner, and chirping its weak shrill notes. In winter, however, 

 most of the individuals betake themselves to the lower grounds, many to the sea- 

 shore, where they mingle with the Dusky Pipits. During snow, they search the 

 margins of streams and lake*?, frequent unfrozen marshes, and even appear in the 

 stack-yards. Then- food consists of insects, pupEe, larva?, and occasionally small 

 seeds, along with which thej pick up particles of gravel, and frequently in the lower 

 districts small bits of coal and other dark-coloured substances. When searching for 

 it, they walk by slow alternate steps, keeping the body close to the ground, in the 

 manner of the Sky Lark, and when alarmed either crouch or spring up, uttering a 

 repetition of their ordinary cheeping note, and fly off to a distance. Like the White 

 and Grey Wagtails, with which they occasionally associate, they vibrate their body, 

 although in general in a much less remarkable degree, but conspicuously when perched 

 on an eminence; or when uttering their notes of alarm. You may sometimes see them 

 perch on a bush or tree, frequently on a wall, a stone, or a rock ; but they are es- 

 sentially ground birds, and while they are employed all day in traversing the mea- 

 dows and pastures, they repose at night among the dry grass of the moors and the 

 hills, or under the shelter of tufts of heath, furze, or other shrubs. Their ordinary 

 flight is wavering and desultory, but when travelling they fly with speed, in an un- 

 dulating line. They are not generally very shy, so that they are easily shot, but at 

 the same time they are evidently watchful and suspicious, and fly off when one ap-^ 

 proaches nearer than thirty yards. 



Notice of a kind of Coral belonging to the genus Cartophyllea foun:^ 

 OFF Plymouth. — Several months ago, I found on a dead valve of Pecten opercular 

 a specimen of coral differing from any that I had seen; but from its small size and 

 imperl^ect state 1 could not then satisfy, myself as to its place in any system. Twq 

 weeks since I found five other specimens attached to stones taken up by trawlers fron 

 deep water, and by these I was enabled to ascertain the genua. A further examina-l 

 tion led me to suspect that it ought to be separated from Carijophyllea cyathus 

 Fleming's British Animals {Madrepora cyathus of Ellis's Zoophytes). My large! 

 specimens are half an inch high, of a compressed figure, and measuring at the sta 

 four-tenths in the largest diameter, and three-tenths in the shortest. They are geng 

 rally inversely conical, though the smallest are of nearly the same size at their bagfl 

 as at the stars. One specimen has the star oval, and presents a curved figure froa 

 its base to the smaller end of the star. The two small specimens have the star nearl 

 round. They are generally rough on their exterior, from the attachment of Serpuk 

 Flnsirce, and in two instances of Lepas conoides. All of them present longitudin 

 striae on the outside, derived undoubtedly from the tliree different kinds of lamellBe ( 

 the interior. The margin of the star is observed to project in every instance, 

 the lamellae are devoid, for a short extent of their depth, of the external crust. TH 

 depth of the disk varies greatly, the centre of this part consisting of small conva 

 lutions, or twisted plaits, situate on, or rising from, the basis of the fabric. Thf 

 smallest kind of lamellee are sometimes deficient, but the second sized invariably occ! 

 between the primary ones. The only circumsfcance in the history of this species, c^ 

 culated to afford a specific name of any value, seems to be its great deficiency of st( 

 and I therefore propose to name it accordingly. 



