Fishes. 



1337 



NATURALIST'S CALENDAR FOR MAY. 



Birds. — The spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa grisola) and the goatsucker (Caprimul- 

 gus Europeans) arrive in the first week of this month. Most of the terns also reach us 

 about the same time, and resort to their breeding stations on various parts of the coast. 

 The Sandwich tern (Sterna Cantiaca), and Arctic tern (Sterna arctica) breed in great 

 numbers on the Fern Islands, off the Northumbrian coast, where also the roseate tern 

 (Sterna Dougalli) is not uncommon, and a few of the common tern (Sterna Hirundo) 

 may also be met with, but this last species is far more numerous on the southern coast 

 of England. The winter birds have now mostly left us, but a few of the waders still 

 linger on our shores, and specimens of the gray plover (Squatarola Helvetica) may be 

 procured in full summer plumage, particularly on the eastern coast. 



Insects. — The swallow-tailed butterfly (Papilio Machaon) makes its appearance 

 about the middle of this month, and continues to come forth till the middle of Septem- 

 ber ; the larvae feed on the milk parsley ( Selinum palustre), and are very common in 

 the fens of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. The chequered skipper (Steropes 

 Paniscus) is very abundant in Monk's Wood, Hunts, and in many of the woods in 

 Northamptonshire, and is usually on the wing about the 15th. The fritillaries (Argyn- 

 nis Euphrosyne and A. Selene) are very common in almost every wood, and the marsh 

 fritillary (Melitcea Artemis), an extremely local species, but abundant where found, is 

 now out. The beautiful clear-winged sphinges (Sesia Bombyliformis and Fuciformis) 

 may be seen hovering over the flowers of the bugle and harebell, and many Geometrce 

 may be found resting upon the trunks of trees, particularly the ingrailed moths (Te- 

 phrosia crepuscular ia, consonaria), Sec. — Henry Doubleday ; Naturalist 1 s Almanack 

 for 1845. 



Account of the capture, in Cornwall, of the Six-branchial or Gray 

 Shark ; but lately recognized in the British Fauna. By Jona- 

 than Couch, Esq., F.L.S., &c* 



\\ 



On the 19th of February of the present year (1846) there was caught 

 by a fisherman of Polperro, and immediately brought to me, a speci- 



Read before the Natural History Society of Penzance. 



IV 



5 B 



