4 J 26 Mollusks. 



just about as true as to say that we bipeds will not eat beef and pudding. — W. T. 

 Bre.e ; Allesley Rectory, October 27, 1853. 



Postscript to the preceding Note. — Since the above was written, I have seen by the 

 November number (Zool. 4100) that Mr. Slaney has experienced fresh instances of the 

 pike feeding on tench ; and that he is now fully convinced that the commonly received 

 notion of the tench's immunity from the attacks of the pike is " totally unfounded." 

 It appears also from Mr. Slaney \s communication, as well as from repeated instances 

 which have come under my own observation, that the pike is, as I may say, doubly 

 destructive of tench as well as of other fish, not only devouring such as are of a size 

 suitable to the capacity of his jaws and stomach, but also by seizing, mutilating, and 

 finally destroying others which are too large to be so disposed of. — Id. ; November 

 4, 1853. 



Notes on the Oxfordshire Shells. By Alfred Merle Norman, Esq. 



(Continued from page 3764). 



If has been with much pleasure that I have read the numerous 

 local lists of land and fresh-water shells that have appeared in the 

 pages of the ' Zoologist,' since the publication of my notes on the 

 species found near Oxford, (Zool. 3761). The season which is now 

 so rapidly drawing to a close, has certainly been a very bad one for 

 collecting most objects of Natural History ; but there are exceptions 

 to every rule, and " 'tis an ill wind which blows no one any good." 

 Thus, while entomologists have had to put by their nets in despair, as 

 I, for one, have long since done ; and even ornithologists have looked 

 in vain for those sunny days which often tempt many a stranger to 

 cross the seas ; those who pay attention to our inland Conchology 

 have had a harvest. Ducks, and certainly slugs and snails even more 

 so, delight in a ducking ; and after showers, the latter may be seen 

 in great abundance crawling along the hedge-banks, up the smooth 

 trunks of trees, over palings, &c. For the Limaces, moisture, to pro- 

 duce a flow of mucus, is absolutely necessary to existence, and they 

 have been luxuriating in this rainy season in greater numbers than I 

 have ever noticed before. A dry hot summer is also no friend to the 

 Helices, which will then retire to some cool spot and close their 

 mouths with an epiphragm, in order to avoid the heat, just in the same 

 way as they do to avoid the cold in winter. Heat and drought are 

 even more injurious to the inhabitants of small ponds and ditches ; 

 since when these dry up, the Mollusca perish in thousands. 



