3600 Arachnida. 



Note on the Genus Gobius. — During a stay of some months iu the island of Malta, 

 in the winter and spring of 1851, I had some good opportunities of observing the 

 habits of a species of goby which was common in the rock pools of the coast. As it 

 does not appear, from a careful comparison of specimens with the drawings and 

 descriptions of Gobiadse in Yarrell's ' History of British Fishes,' to belong to our 

 native Fauna, I append a short description. Fin-ray formula : — 



D. 6, 14; P. 17; V. (?) ; A. 11 ; C. 16. 

 Colour a very pale brown, mottled and spotted with black : head depressed, with a lon- 

 gitudinal furrow extending along the top to the commencement of the first dorsal fin ; 

 under jaw rather longer than the upper: tail rounded : ventral fins united as in the 

 genus Gobius. Length of the specimen described about 2 inches, but I have since 

 seen others of 4 or 5 inches long. In vol. i. p. 281 of Yarrell's ' British Fishes,' in 

 speaking of the genus Gobius, he says, " The species of this genus are easily recognised 

 by the peculiar form of the ventral fins ; the short anterior rays, and the long posterior 

 ones, on each side, being united together, making a circle, with which they have been 

 supposed to possess the power of attaching themselves to rocks, by forming a vacuum." 

 Now having kept one of the species described alive for several weeks, in a large 

 earthenware vessel (which was daily replenished with sea-water), in company with 

 some blennies and other small fish, and having watched closely at all times of the day, 

 and by candle-light, the habits of the various inhabitants of my vivarium, there ap- 

 pears to me no doubt but that the goby adheres to surfaces by the disk formed by the 

 union of the ventral fins ; for it is able to remain stationary upon the almost perpendi- 

 cular sides of the vessel, without any movement, even of the pectoral fins, whilst the 

 blennies, its companions, are quite unable to rest upon a surface unless considerably 

 shelving. Moreover, the goby, when about to fix itself on the glazed sides of the vi- 

 varium, drops, as it were, the ventral disk, which is evidently in contact with the sur- 

 face. — William C. P. Medbjcott ; 23, Montpellier Road, Brighton, August 18, 1852. 



Capture of the Fishing Frog (Lophius piscatorius) near Runcorn. — A fine specimen 

 (4 feet long) of the fishing frog was found stranded on a sand-bank, in the Mersey, 

 near Runcorn, on Friday last, the 28lh instant, by some fishermen. When found it 

 appeared to have just died, and had evidently used most strenuous efforts to gain the 

 receding tide, as the skin underneath the tail was almost worn through with its work- 

 ing on the sand. — W. Fell ; Warrington, 5th mo. 31, 1852. 



Anecdote of a Hunting Spider. — Last week I was amused by an action of one oi 

 the hunting spiders so often seen prowling about on sunny walls, &c. Observing on( 

 of these zebra-marked individuals on a Venetian blind, I watched an opportunity 

 effect its capture with a quill. With their usual vigilance, however, it immediately 

 detected the end of the quill resting on the intervening lath, and cautiously retreated 

 step or two, with its head turned to the suspicious object ; then, as cautiously ad- 

 vancing, it sprang on the end of the quill, and, after clinging to it for a second, leapec 

 back and concealed itself on the other side of the blind. The spider no doubt mistool 

 it for an insect, possibly from its partaking of the tremor of the hand. — Geo. Guyon, 

 Richmond, Surrey, August 16, 1852. 



