5324 Mollusks, fyc. 



egg-shells are more frequently found beneath the nests of other birds 

 in those months when the cuckoo is sojourning with us, that is no 

 good reason for charging it so universally, as is the case, with their 

 destruction ; for, that being the period when all kinds of birds are 

 laying, of course many more accidents to these occur, and a much 

 more constant destruction of eggs takes place by other means. I 

 cannot, therefore, think there are any just grounds for accusing the 

 poor cuckoo of this felonious propensity, either for the purpose of 

 clearing its voice or as a matter of food ; and I should much wish to 

 be able by these suggestions to relieve so pretty and universally 

 welcomed a bird from this often-repeated, and, as I believe, un- 

 founded and opprobrious accusation, unless any of the numerous con- 

 tributors to the * Zoologist ' can bring satisfactory evidence to prove 

 the contrary is really the fact. 



Wm. H. Slaney. 

 Hatton Hall, 



October 14, 1856. 



Rissoa lactea in Jersey and the Isle of Herm. — Rissoa lactea owed its insertion in 

 the ' British M oil u sea' to the discovery by Mr. Hanley of four living examples, " under 

 large masses of stone at St. Helier's, Jersey, taken by wading into pools at very low 

 water." Any conchologist visiting Jersey will meet with the species dead, but in good 

 condition, by examining carefully the sides of the raised bank which connects the 

 castle with the shore, but which is covered at high water. The Rissoa, however, would 

 seem not to be confined to Jersey, as I have lately taken a single specimen from among 

 Herm shell-sand. — Alfred Merle Norman; Kibworth, September 3, 1856. 



Limax Gagales in Scotland and Guernsey. — 1 have already recorded the occurrence 

 of this recently distinguished British slug in two or three localities (Zool. 4048, 4284). 

 I have now the pleasure of slating that I have found it in Scotland and the Channel 

 Isles ; I believe for the first lime in both places. In the summer of 1854 I took a 

 specimen in the grounds of the College, Isle of C umbrae, in the Clyde; and last 

 month T met with a specimen in the parish of St. Martin's, Guernsey. I may 

 mention that all the specimens which have occurred to me have been taken on grass 

 or hedge-banks after very heavy storms of rain. — Id. 



Octopus vulgaris at Herm. — This fine cuttle-fish is by no means rare at Herm, 

 where it is taken under stones and among weeds at low water. — Id. 



Eurylepta vittata at Herm. — I met with this remarkable Planarian in some 

 numbers, on the under side of the granite rocks, at the Galeomma grouud, in the Isle 

 of Herm. II it were not for the absence of the branchial plumes, it reminds us not a 

 litile of a Nudibranch Molluscan. — Alfred Merle Norman ; Kibworth, September 3, 

 1856. 



