4972 Cornwall Nalural History Society, 



Cornwall Natural History and Antiquarian Society. 



Anniversary Meeting, November, 1855. — The President read the following memo- 

 randum, from the pen of Mr. E. Q. Couch : — 



New Facts on the Ecdysis or Moulting of Crustacea. 

 " tt is well known that, for a crab to grow, it is necessary that it should cast off its 

 old shell : this it does entire ; even the lining of the eyes, lungs, stomach, &c, are all 

 cast off; and thus, after the creature has escaped, the shell seems as perfect as the 

 animal itself; but I could never understand how that broad flat surface inside each 

 claw could be got rid of without injury to the new claw; however, by attentively 

 watching the process in several instances, I observed that in the act of drawing out the 

 ■new claw the edge is cut through by these flat horny plates, the divided parts' imme- 

 diately closing again, and speedily becoming so adherent as to preclude their being 

 reopened. I have observed another fact: — When crabs cast off their claws and get 

 new ones, the process can take place only in the joint which is nearest the body: if any 

 other be injured they bleed to death ; but if the nearest joint be removed there is little 

 blood lost, and over the wound a thin film forms, in the middle of which is a tubercle. 

 The common opinion among naturalists appears to be that the new claw immediately 

 begins to form, and at the next casting of the shell it is perfected, though it be small ; 

 but this is incorrect: when the old claw is separated the scar immediately forms, and 

 remains till the creature casts its shell. After the shell is cast the tubercle in the centre 

 of the scar suddenly enlarges, and under it may be discovered a small claw doubled on 

 itself beneath the membrane of the scar: this remains in a soft state until the crab again 

 casts its shell, when the new claw is set at liberty, is straightened out, and becomes 

 hard and calcareous like other parts of the body ; so that a claw, instead of being 

 renewed and perfected at once, or at the first casting of the shell, is not so in reality 

 until the shell has been cast the second time." 



Mr. E. H. Rodd communicated the following account of 



Ornithological Captures during the Past Year. 

 " The interval between our last annual meeting and the present has been produc- 

 tive of ornithological occurrences in this district quite worthy of notice. The severity 

 of the last winter, almost unparalleled for extent and duration, caused a vast influx of 

 birds, both of the land and water tribes, not only from the northern regions of Europe, 

 but also from our own inland districts. Those of the thrush family were especially 

 remarkable, and so concentrated were the redwings and fieldfares in the Land's End 

 district after the frost had lasted some time, that even at Truro the entire absence of 

 these birds, and nearly of the whole of our common field birds, was the subject of 

 observation. The commoner species of wild fowl flocked in innumerable numbers to 

 our district ; but it was observed that there was not such an accession of the rarer 

 Anatidae as might have been expected. Woodcocks and snipes were everywhere to be 

 found, and the former were observed, from exhaustion and famine, to be strutting about 

 on grass plots adjoining coverts, and even close to houses, seeking for their sustenance 

 like barn-door fowls. The intense frosts, after cementing all the more exposed ground, 

 at last closed up all the avenues of the woodcocks' sources of sustenance in warm 

 sheltered valleys, when, at last, these, with other birds, were often found dead, always 



