134 Chronicles of Science. [Jan., 



isting companies. For there is already at Whitstable, close by, an 

 opulent company of oyster breeders, who annually send a very large 

 quantity of that favourite mollusc to Billingsgate. The fishing-ground 

 of this company is extensive, occupying a space of 1,200 acres, and 

 affording employment to about 2,000 persons. The operations of 

 these dredgers approach very nearly the system of culture pursued in 

 France, the difference being that the Whitstable men do not begin by 

 saving the spat, that is, they do not breed their own oysters, but con- 

 tent themselves with buying brood-stock from their neighbours at 

 Colchester and elsewhere ; and the extent of their trade may be guessed 

 from the fact of their having j>aid in the course of five years 150,000L 

 for brood. This company has a fleet of boats, which is valued at 

 2O,000Z., while they estimate their lying stock of oysters as being 

 worth at least 200,000Z. ; and the earnings of the freemen of the com- 

 pany have averaged about twenty-four shillings per week for the last 

 fifteen years. 



The quasi-parasitic mollusc Stilifer, of which one species, S. Turtoni, 

 occurs upon our coasts, has given rise to some remarks by Mr. Jeffreys, 

 who dredged living specimens in Shetland, upon Echini. Various 

 views have previously been taken of the position and character of the 

 animal, and it was at first supposed to be parasitic. This, however, 

 has been disproved ; for, although always found upon the tegumentary 

 system of Echinoderms, the latter never appear to be otherwise than in 

 perfect health and vigour ; and Mr. Jeffreys supposes that the Stilifer 

 feeds upon the excretions of the Echinoderms and not on animalcules. 

 That there is some connection between the peculiar habitat of Stilifer 

 (on the upper side of the Echinus) and its food, there can be no doubt, 

 though there may be difficulty, in denning it. A similar case occurs 

 in Montacuta substriata, which always adheres by the byssus to the 

 lower side of Echinoids, or to the vertical spines near the mouth, 

 where it probably avails itself of the currents excited by the ciliary 

 action of the latter. 



A Norwegian naturalist has recently obtained by means of the same 

 instrument used by Captain M'Clintock and Dr. Wallich, between 

 Cape North and Spitzbergen, living animals, from a depth of 8,400 

 feet, or more than a mile and a half. At that depth, where the tem- 

 perature was only three-tenths of a degree Centigrade, or nearly the 

 freezing point, were found living polypes, mussels, tunicates, annelids, 

 and bright-coloured crustaceans. The same naturalist has found 

 Ammonites (probably Jurassic), and leaves resembling those of the 

 Palmetto (probably Miocene) at Spitzbergen. 



Mr. C. A. Wilson, of Adelaide, a diligent Entomologist, having 

 spent many years in investigating the insects of the colony, comes to 

 the following conclusions with respect to the relative abundance of 

 the various orders. Taking the Coleopterous insects (probably 5,000 

 in number) as represented by the number 20, the Hymenoptera would 

 be represented by 11^, the Lepidoptera by 6^, the Diptera by 4^, the 

 Hemiptera and Heteroptera by 2, the Orthoptera by 1, and the Neu- 

 roptera by ^. The remaining orders, Thysanoptera, Aphaniptera, &c, 



