3660 Fishes .—Insects. 



very likely that in a state of nature the snakes shed their skin more easily, by creeping 

 through the closest shrubs, and as it were combing the skin off; the slough or skin of 

 the common British snake is often found amongst the thick shrubs in woods and other 

 places. I should state that the Cobras which are handled in the way I have mention- 

 ed above have had their poisonous fangs extracted ; but other snakes that have not 

 been deprived of these fangs are generally separated or shifted by means of a stout 

 hooked wire. — W. H. Thomas ; 15, Hanover Street, Walworth, October 4, 1852. 



[Since the above was written, a man named Gurland, a keeper at the Zoological 

 Society's Gardens, has been killed by the bite of one of the Cobras, with which he was 

 foolishly playing, while in a state of intoxication. — Ed. Zool.~] 



Occurrence of Regalecus Glesne at Cromarty. — On the 17th of September a specimen 

 of this very rare fish was cast ashore near Millar's Stone, in the Bay of Cromarty. It 

 measured 11 feet 10 inches in length, 1 foot 3 inches in depth, and 4 inches in thick- 

 ness. The head was considerably bruised, and the point of the tail destroyed, which 

 latter accident has befallen all the three well-authenticated specimens yet discovered 

 on the shores of Britain; so that the exact figure and dimensions of the caudal extre- 

 mity are yet to be ascertained. The fullest, if not the only English description of the 

 Regalecus Glesne (which has not yet received an English name), is to be found in 'An 

 Account of the Rare Fish caught off Cullercoats,' published (but it says not by whom) 

 in 1849. It is rather remarkable that two of the well-authenticated instances in which 

 this fish has been found in Britain, have occurred in the waters of the Moray Firth, — 

 one having been cast ashore at Crovie near Macduff, in 1844 (Zool. 3460). It will be 

 satisfactory to the readers of the 'Zoologist' to know that the Regalecus found at Cro- 

 marty has not been lost, as many a rarity is, in the mephitic heap at the fisherman's 

 door; but has been secured and preserved by Mr. Dunbar, for a place in his Museum 

 at Inverness, where naturalists, when they journey so far North, will no doubt exa- 

 mine it, and other objects in that collection, with much interest and profit. — G. Gor- 

 don ; Birnic, by Elgin, October 15, 1852. 



Variety of the Common Sole. — I have this morning seen an example of the com- 

 mon sole, of which the under side was piebald, that is, the head and a small portion of 

 the body were white, as usual, the remainder resembling the upper side, and being si- 

 milarly covered with scales. The line of separation was perfectly distinct, and very 

 irregular. Mr. Yarrell says, "I possess a specimen (of the common sole) that is of the 

 usual dark colour, with rough ciliated scales on both sides: " ('British Fishes,' ii. 258). 

 — Arthur Hussey ; Rottingdean, August 10, 1852. 



Capture of Catocala Fraxini at Burton-on-Trent. — I have this day had brought to 

 me, alive and in very fair condition, a specimen of Catocala Fraxini. It was caught 

 by a man behind a shutter, in one of the large ale-stores of this town. — Edwin Brown; 

 livrton-on-Trent, October 2, 1852. 



