Cornwall Natural History Society. 4973 



more or less exhausted, and with scarcely any flesh on their bodies. Amongst birds 

 of unusual occurrence in this neighbourhood at that time were large numbers of the 

 brambling (Montifringilla) — a species that seldom leaves the northern English counties 

 except in very rigorous winters. In nearly all the farm-yards in the neighbourhood of 

 Penzance were these beautiful finches to be seen. During the past year the following 

 remarkable birds have been noticed : — Rosecoloured starling ; Land's End, <5cc. : four 

 instances. Solitary snipe ; Cold Harbour Moor, Towednack : not hitherto recorded 

 in the Cornish Fauna. Schinz's tringa ; Scilly. Hawfinch ; Scilly. Whitefronted 

 wild geese ; Scilly. Honey buzzard ; Carclew." 



Mr. R. Q. Couch, after stating that he had prepared a paper on the subject, which 

 would appear in the Society's ' Report,' read the following abstract : — 



On the Metamorphoses of Crustacea. 



Mr. Couch prefaced the reading of his abstract by stating that the subject was now 

 attracting much of the attention of naturalists. Professor Bell had given, in his work 

 on the Crustacea lately finished, a summary of all that was known on the subject down 

 to the present year, and had expressed an intention of bringing regularly before the 

 Linnean Society such additional information as he could collect: he had already 

 quoted from the Reports of this Society, and was desirous of procuring as much 

 additional information from it as this Society could give. The early part of this paper 

 was occupied with a brief recapitulation of the doctrine of the metamorphoses of crabs 

 and lobsters, as formerly described by the author, and which is now acknowledged by 

 all authorities. He referred to Professor Bell's work on the Crustacea, in which the 

 whole process is particularly described ; but the author remarked that all previous 

 researches had been directed especially to the establishment of the doctrine of meta- 

 morphosis and to the particular description of each species. It was his intention in 

 future to give figures and specific descriptions of every species ; for as the young, in 

 their partially developed form, are free, and move about in the surrounding waters, 

 they are presented to the researches of the naturalist as species or fully-formed animals, 

 and in times past have been described as such ; and thus species, and even genera, of 

 animals have been unnecessarily multiplied. The paper then described minutely the 

 early states of the species mentioned above, and dwelt elaborately upon the young 

 state of several species of Mysis which do not undergo a change. 



Mr. R. Q. Couch contributed the following 



Notice of the Capture of Planes Linnceana in Mount's Bay. 



" The occurrence of Planes Linnaeana in Mount's Bay is well worthy the attention 

 of this Society, not only from its extreme rarity as a British species, but also on account 

 of the probable source whence it was derived. There are three specimens in the British 

 Museum, placed there by Dr. Leech ; these were probably obtained from the Devon- 

 shire coast, and are all, I believe, that can be said to have been recognized on our 

 shores, though I think there is a specimen in the Museum at Plymouth. Some of 

 the smaller specimens which have been shown me as belonging to this species, and 

 which h;ive been taken both in Cornwall and Devonshire, have, on examination, 

 turned out to be the young of Carcinas Mamas, just as it has begun to assume the 

 adult specific markings. Such specimens I have frequently captured in Mount's Bay 



