Fishes.— Insects. 3375 



Gowan, for the purpose of being presented to Mr. Hugh Miller, as a mark of the es- 

 teem in which his geological labours are held by Christian cultivators of science in 

 the far East, was here put into Mr. Miller's hands by Dr. Coldstream. 

 The Society then adjourned till the first Wednesday of February. 



TJie Variegated Sole. — I have seen Mr. Hussey's note on the occurrence of the va- 

 riegated sole on the Sussex coast (Zool. 3282), and as I know that the feeding-ground 

 has a very great influence upon the sole, and have obtained specimens such as he de- 

 scribes, but which were not the variegated sole {Monochirus linguatulus), I send a few 

 extracts from my note-book on the point. The true variegated sole I have never seen 

 exceed 5^ inches (French measure), and I have seen twenty pairs at a time, and not 

 half an inch difference in the whole lot, and many of them had roe. They are called 

 here bastard soles. Previously to procuring any at Weymouth, the fishermen told me 

 of a second marketable sole, which they described as much thicker, and with larger scales 

 than the common sole, and with black blotches on the back ; this I thought must be 

 the variegated sole, and I ordered them to bring the first they caught, which were 

 about a foot in length, and as they were described, as to thickness of flesh, size of 

 scales, and colour. This, however, was not the variegated sole, but I have no doubt 

 one of the same sort as that obtained by Mr. Hussey. I then made very full inquiries 

 of many trawlers, and they all agreed in stating the colour of the sole depended upon 

 and varied according to the quality and depth of the feeding-ground; and they named 

 four prevailing varieties : — 1, a dark sole ; 2, a shrub sole, from the markings on the 

 back having the appearance of shrubs ; 3, a lemon sole ; and 4, a spotted sole. No. 

 1 is, I believe, caught in the shallowest water ; No. 2 next ; and Nos. 3 and 4 in the 

 deepest water. The black patches in the true variegated sole run in a transverse 

 direction, and, on the fins, are in the shape of bars, and pretty regular both in size 

 and distance from each other; in the other sole mentioned by Mr. Hussey, the blotches 

 are very irregular in every way. In five specimens of the variegated sole which T pur- 

 chased this morning, there are no black marks whatever on the body, which is reddish, 

 with light markings, the tins however are barred with regular, black, transverse bands 

 in the direction of the rays. — William Thompson; Weymouth, January 20, 1852. 



Method of obtaining Trox sabulosus. — Time was, when the meeting with, upon our 

 forest hills, a rabbit-skin or a bundle of old bones, was hailed with delight, as a trea- 

 sure ever longed for but seldom met with, as " luck was not in 'em " if they did not 

 hold a specimen or two of the far-famed and interesting Trox sabulosus. Now, like 

 the man in the farce, who never had an idea of his own, it was not, until advised by 

 my friend, George Guyon (well known in your pages), that I saw, by simply taking 

 over and placing in favourable localities, a few skins and bottles of bones, how easily 

 the above-mentioned casualty might be converted into a "dead certainty," and a good 

 supply of Trox be readily procured. Accordingly, on my next trip, behold me with 

 the pockets of my entomological coat standing out some half a yard from each side of 

 my person, owing to the deposition therein of some half a dozen rabbit-skins, and two 

 soda-water bottles partly filled with bones. Selecting suitable situations, I deposited 



