1264 Fishes. 



in the town, where the usual antidotes were applied with success." The foregoing is 

 copied from the Northampton Mercury of Saturday, January 3rd, 1846. It is to me 

 surprising that a viper should be found in the grass, and able to bite, on the 30th of 

 December. If I resided in or near London I would go to Petersham to ascertain whe- 

 ther the accident happened or not, &c, and if it did, I would inquire into all the par- 

 ticulars and send them to ' The Zoologist.' — John King ; Buckingham, January 

 7 th, 1846. 



P. S. I once had a couple of young vipers, not half-grown brought to me, caught 

 at Ditchley, in Oxfordshire, on the same day, by the same person, and at a short dis- 

 tance from each other ; one brown, the other quite black. They are now preserved in 

 spirits, by Mr. George Sirett, chemist of this town. Some here will argue that the ad- 

 der and viper are not the same, but different reptiles, and that the adder is much more 

 active and dangerous than the viper. — John King. 



Further remarks on the habits of the Eel. — There are one or two observations which 

 I wish to make concerning Mr. Banister's letter (Zool. 1244) on my paper on the ha- 

 bits of the eel (Zool. 1216), contained in this month's Zoologist. The eels that I men- 

 tion as having been taken by cutting a hole in the ice were not congregated round any 

 aperture, but were simply lying under the surface of the ice some way from the edge 

 which is usually the last to freeze, and the finding of this eel in the polecat's nest was, 

 if I mistake not, (for as I said it was only from report I learnt it,) in September when 

 the mode of fishing he suggests could not be practicable. In confirmation however 

 of his assertion, that the animal in question feeds on frogs, I may mention that a 

 friend, to whom I showed Mr. Banister's paper, told me that he remembered find- 

 ing a polecat's store one winter, in which, as well as eels, there were a great many 

 frogs. — H. T. Frere ; Aylsham, February 4th, 1846. 



Occurrence of the Tadpole Fish off Sherringham. — Within an hour after posting 

 my last communication to you, I purchased in the Norwich market a fine specimen 

 near a foot long of the tadpole-fish (Raniceps trifurcatus.) The person who sold it me 

 said that it had been caught off Sherringham on the rock cod-lines, and that he had 

 once before obtained a specimen which he had sold to Mr. J. H. Gurney. When I first 

 purchased it, it was of an intense black, which has since faded to a dark grey on the 

 head. — H. T. Frere ; Aylsham, January 30th, 1846. 



Memorandum of the Spawning of Trout. — Thinking that a notice of the periods of 

 spawning of the trout in the rivers and brooks of Derbyshire, may prove acceptable to 

 your readers, I give below the results as far as have occurred to me in my fishing ex- 

 cursions during the season. 





DATE. 



LOCALITY. 



1 



MO. OF FISH WITH SPAWN. WT. 



14. 



June 22. 



Little Eaton Brook. 



2 fishes. 



Spawn size of a|mustard-seed £lb. 



55 



July 10. 



River Derwent. 



1 fish. 



Spawn ready for exclusion. l£ 



\;> 



April 2. 



Findon Brook. 



1 fish. 



Spawn ready for exclusion. 1 



15 



Aug. 18. 



Longford Brook. 



2 fishes. 



Spawn size of No. 6 shot. £ 



»> 



2.5. 



Markeaton Brook. 



1 fish. 



Ditto ditto. £ 



55 



Sept. 18. 



Driffield, Yorkshire. 



20 fishes. 



Spawn size of No. 6. 1 to I 



5» 



22. 



Longford Brook. 



2 fishes. 



Spawn ready for exclusion. J 



55 



5> 



Ditto ditto. 



2 fishes, 



SpawD size of a mustard-seed £ 







Robert John Bell ; Mic/cleover House, January 10th, 1846. 



