Arachnida. 1139 



Note on the Salmon and the Eel. I notice in a late number of ' The Zoologist,' 

 (Zool. 1035), an extract from the Perth Advertiser, respecting salmon. The one men- 

 tioned as weighing 21 fbs., when caught foul weighed only 9 lbs., at least so I was 

 informed a few clays since by Sir Thomas Monteith, a great friend of Lord Glenlyon's, 

 so that in a few months he had more than doubled his weight. As I am a bit of an 

 angler, I will give you an eel-anecdote, as I find it in my note-book, kept during my 

 stay in the north. When fishing for salmon at the West-boat, Deeside, on the 17th 

 of April, as in the act of throwing my fly, I observed in the water at my feet, scarcely 

 two yards from the bank — it being knee-deep, and as clear as Cairngorum — an eel of 

 about 2i fbs., which had seized a sea-trout of a little more than 1 lb. by the gills, and 

 made a coil and a half round him. The trout thus embraced was unable to swim, and 

 helplessly rolled over and over, until they reached deep water, and I lost sight of them. 

 The eel seemed to hold fast his grip, and doubtlessly in the end mastered the trout, 

 although fresh from the sea. I might easily by wading have gaffed them both, but I 

 had risen a good salmon on my first cast, and cared more for the salmon than for the 

 other two. I send you the above, as the keeper and all at Durris were much asto- 

 nished, and declared that they had never heard of such a thing. How could the eel 

 have swallowed such a morsel ? Or would he bite it to pieces ? — Charles Home ; 

 Clapham Common, August 27, 1845. 



Leeches found in a Block of Coal. About thirteen days ago, two living leeches 

 were found in a block of coal, in a mine about sixty yards deep, at Birchills, Walsall, 

 Staffordshire. In appearance they were just like the leeches in common use. When 

 put into water, they seemed to enjoy it as their native element, but died in a few days. 

 Lancaster Gazette, April 26. 



Habits of a species of Spider. I have just returned from a short botanico-horti- 

 cultural excursion through a considerable portion of the counties of Meath and West- 

 meath, but am not prepared to trouble you at present with anything relative to those 

 departments of Natural History ; my object being to request information, rather than 

 to afford it, in a zoological matter which attracted my attention, and appeared singu 

 lar at first sight, as well as on further reflection, which may altogether have resulted 

 from my slight knowledge of the habits of spiders. I shall therefore simply detail the 

 occurrence as it happened. When examining a deep spongy bog, which produced a 

 considerable number of rather rare plants, I observed, at the opposite side of a deep 

 pool, a dark oblong cluster depending from the heath, which I knew was not general 

 in such localities, and was consequently induced to make my way to it, when I found 

 the dark object to be composed of a living mass of a small species of spider, specimens 

 of which accompany this. I could not better describe the manner in which they were 

 heaped together, than to compare them to a cluster of bees hiving, which they resem- 

 bled in most instances, the mass being equally dense, and having the same peculiar 

 movement, and I should say might be about an inch square, but I can offer no just 

 computation of the numbers it contained, further than you will readily observe, from 

 the small size of the spiders, there must have been some thousands in the dimensions 

 I have stated. After watching their movements for a considerable time, during which 

 they continued in the same crowded state, I stooped to capture them, when they at 



