Fishes. 3301 



place at Oxford, where it was purchased by Mr. Hore. It is in an intermediate state 

 of plumage, not having thoroughly acquired its adult dress, and is supposed to be the 

 yellow-backed Whidah finch, the Vidua Chrysonotus of Swainson. I will shortly send 

 you a more detailed account of this addition to the " Birds of Oxfordshire," and trust 

 that the above imperfect notice may be in time for insertion in the present volume of 

 the ' Zoologist.' — A. Matthews ; Weston-on-the-Green, November 19, 1851. 



Note on the Autumnal Moult of the Red-throated Diver. — On the 24th of October 

 I obtained a specimen of the red-throated diver at Lowestoft, an adult male, in the 

 height of the autumnal moult, and showing very clearly that the red throat, with the 

 lead-coloured margin to the red, is peculiar to the summer dress, and that the throat 

 is white in winter after the occurrence of the autumnal moult, as I have before stated, 

 (Zool. 2775). In the specimen in question the slate-coloured plumage on the cheeks, 

 the chin, and the sides of the neck, and also the red plumage running down the front 

 of the throat, was extensively varied by the pure white colour of the new feathers, 

 which were coming among the old ones, and which were entirely white upon all the 

 above-mentioned parts of the bird. On the back and wings, the old feathers were of 

 a dull brownish gray colour, a little shaded, but not spotted : while the new feathers 

 which were coming up among them were of a blackish gray colour, with a distinct 

 white oblong spot on each side of the top of the feather. — J. H. Gurney ; Easton, 

 Norfolk, November 7, 1851. 



Occurrence of Ray's Bream (Brama Raii, Cuv.) at Gamrie. — On the 24th instant, 

 an example of this fish, measuring 22^ inches in length, was caught in the harbour of 

 Gardenston, in this parish. When first discovered, it was pushing its way inward 

 against a receding tide, and was secured by one of the fishermen, who, by jumping 

 into the water, succeeded in throwing it ashore with his hands. It contained a large 

 roe. Dr. Parnell describes the teeth on the outer row as being " longer than those 

 behind ; " while Mr. Couch, in his description of this species, quoted by Mr. Yarrell 

 (British Fishes, i. 119), says " the inner row of the lower jaw longest." In the pre- 

 sent example the inner row of teeth on the lower jaw are the longer ; but in the up- 

 per jaw the reverse is the case, the teeth in the outer row being much longer than 

 those within. Those in the patch on the back palate equal the largest in size, and 

 have a patch of smaller size placed behind the root of the tongue, and opposed to them. 

 Mr. Couch describes the ventral fins " with a long pointed scale in the axilla," which 

 is the case in the present instance ; but the pectorals are also furnished with a corre- 

 sponding appendage similarly situated, which, however, is broader and more rounded 

 towards the point. He further says, " the nostril single," this I take to be double in 

 the example before me, i. e., there are two apertures on each side of the snout, which 

 communicate, and are about two-eighths of an inch apart, the first being circular, the 

 second rather longitudinal. I extracted from the pharynx two worms, about an inch 

 and a half long ; another from the larger intestines fully two inches long, but rather 

 more slender in the body; and there was also found, embedded in the flesh of the fish, 

 a ganglionic looking creature, three quarters of an inch in length, and of proportional 

 thickness, having a pointed proboscis : these creatures I presume to be of the kind 

 pointed out by Rudolphi as infesting the flesh and intestines of this fish. The worms 

 taken from the throat were possessed of great vitality, and have a membranous border 



