NOTES AND QUERIES. 307 



Short Sunfish near Scarborough. — On July 29th, whilst a fisherman 

 named Albert Reeve was proceeding to take up his crab-pots, about a quarter 

 of a mile out to sea, off the Peak, a little to the north of Scarborough, he 

 noticed at some distance from his boat something projecting above the 

 water, which he took to be the buoy attached to his lines. On approaching 

 he discovered the object to be a strange fish floating, apparently asleep, 

 and having " gaffed " it he got into his boat. On reaching shore he brought 

 it to my shop, when it turned out to be a Short Sunfish, Orthagoriscus 

 mola. The extreme measurements were 18 inches long, 12 inches wide, 

 aud 26 inches from tip to tip of fins. The stomach, on dissection, proved 

 to be empty, excepting a tittle yellowish fluid. On the gills were fouud a 

 number of the large parasite, Lemaa branchialis, which is usually found 

 infesting this fish. It is a formidable creature, about an inch in length, 

 aud must be a source of much discomfort to the unwilling host. — W. J. 

 Clarke (44, Huntriss Row, Scarborough). 



[Borlase, in his 'Natural History of Cornwall' (p. 260), remarks that 

 this fish is called by Ray and others the " Sun-fish," as being round, and 

 emitting a kind of splendour in a dark room ; by others (as Rondeletius) the 

 " Moon-fish," because not only round and shining by night, but having the 

 shape of the crescent betwixt its little pectoral fin and the eye. Referring 

 to one captured at Ilfracorabe, Gosse described it (Zool. 1852, p. 3579) as 

 moving slowly, with a waving motion, from side to side, like a man sculling 

 a boat, — to use the comparison of the sailor who helped to take it, — the 

 back fin appearing above water. The fish permitted the boat to come close 

 up without exhibiting alarm, even when the boatside came in actual contact 

 with it. The men made a bowline-knot and slipped it over its head, 

 tightening it before the dorsal and anal fins, so that the knot came in the 

 middle of its side. Thus they hauled it in, not without a wetting, for with 

 a flapping action of the ample fins (again a kind of sculling) it scooped up 

 the water and threw it over them and into the boat. A writer in 'The 

 Field ' (Feb. 4th, 1882), reporting the capture of a Sunfish near Plymouth, 

 added that a friend cut off a large portion, and sent it as a present to an 

 acquaintance who was fond of Turtle-soup. It was boiled by his cook, and 

 he asserted that it was the best Turtle-soup he had tasted for a long time, 

 having that delicate green tinge always characteristic of the best Turtle. As 

 no ill results ensued, it was supposed the fish must be wholesome. — Ed.] 



MOLLUSCA. 



A Carnivorous Habit in Limax. — Despite the destructive habits of the 

 genus Limax, it is still possible that the species may do good, for interesting 

 observations have been made upon the American Limax campestris, Binney, 

 which was seen feeding upon plant-lice. Prof. Webster, of the Ohio Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station, U.S.A., kiudly sent me the ' Bulletin ' (68) 



