Molliishs. 5205 



examined it before the opening was made large enough in the outer shell to remove 

 the inner egg : unfortunately I cannot just now turn up my notes : a full account of it 

 was published at the time in one of the Aberdeen papers. The following was pub- 

 lished in the 'John O'Groat Journal' of the 20th ult. : — " Curious Circumstance. — 

 Some weeks ago there was found in the nest of a ' heady craw,' on the island in the 

 loch of Stemster in this county, an egg more than double the size of the ordinary egg 

 of that bird, but in all other points of resemblance — in shape, tint and spots — exactly 

 the same. For some time it was allowed to remain in the nest, in the expectation that 

 the bird might be generous enough to continue the practice of laying eggs of the same 

 dimensions, but on no more being found it was ultimately carried away and boiled, 

 when, to the surprise of the individual who applied his spoon to the shell, it was found 

 to contain not only a fair amount of edible matter in the form of yolk and white, but 

 likewise a fully formed egg of the ordinary dimensions, with a shell of the usual thick- 

 ness and colour. There were, in fact, two single eggs rolled into one, but by what 

 agency or process it is impossible to say/' The editor has most kindly given me the 

 rarity ; unfortunately it was much crushed in its transit to the news office : to preserve 

 it from further injury I have put it into spirits. It was fortunate the finder had an 

 egg-eating propensity ; and thus boiling it has fixed the inner egg in the hardened 

 white. The outer egg has a nice yolk, which peers out from the fracture made on the 

 side for the spoon, and thus the inner egg is nicely exposed. The outer egg is as 

 stated unusually large, light coloured, and of good shape ; the inner one much darker, 

 and obtuse at both ends. It must be understood that the bird called "Heady Craw" 

 in Caithness, is not the Corvus cornix, " Hoodie Craw" of Aberdeen, or " Scaul Craw" 

 of other parts of Scotland, but the black-headed gull, "Larus ridibundus" of Yarrel. 

 —Charles William Peach ; Wick, N. B., July 8, 1856. 



Description of a supposed new Skenea : occurrence of Crenella costulata and Mo- 

 diola phaseolina in Mounts Bag. — Through the kindness of Spence Bate, Esq., I am 

 enabled to send you an account of an extremely minute Skenea which I found in sand, 

 taken amongst Corallina officinalis from rock pools at Gwyllyn Vase, near Falmouth. 

 It is involute like Skenea nitidissima, and equally umbilicated both above and below ; 

 but the whorls, which are three instead of two and a half as in that shell, do not 

 increase quite so rapidly in size: its distinctive feature consists in having three 

 spiral ribs or carina? of a shining fulvous tint which contrast strongly with the whitish 

 ground-colour of the shell ; one is situated on either side, extending from the apex to 

 the orifice, and the third, which is not so distinctly elevated, on the centre of the body. 

 The entire volutions appear under a good lens distinctly wrinkled longitudinally, more 

 especially on the inner side, and under a still higher power finely striated spirally : 

 the mouth, which is well rounded and does not turn to either side, embraces a consi- 

 derable portion of the body whorl : the operculum I have not been able to examine : 

 the diameter hardly equals the twentieth of an inch. As yet I have only obtained 

 four specimens, but have still some small portion of the sand in which they are found 

 remaining unexamined. If the shell as described above is already known, I should 

 feel greatly obliged if any of your scientific correspondents would favour me with the 

 name. I am borne out in my opinion that it is new to the British Fauna by Dr. 



