Insects. 1341 



of fish somewhat like a whiting, and weighing about half a pound. 1 was much sur- 

 prised, and asked him how the fish were caught? He said, " that owing to the spear 

 floating and the motion of the stream, the fish took the red flannel to he a frog, and so 

 jumped, whilst the forward motion of the spear transfixed them. I may remark that 

 all that I saw were pierced through the body immediately below the back-fin. — 

 C. Home; Clapham Common, March 19th, 1846. 



Trolling extraordinary. — Dr. Fielding, of Lenham Lodge, Kent, last month, 

 caught in three hours' trolling four fine pike. The largest measured three feet three 

 inches in length, and weighed fifteen pounds ; the second weighed nine pounds, the 

 third four pounds and a half, and the fourth three pounds and a half. In addition to 

 these he lost three heavy fish ; one by the breaking of the swivel, the second by the 

 giving way of the wrapping close to the hook, and the third by the hook tearing away 

 from its hold.— Globe, April 7th, 1846. 



The Toad Fish of New South Wales. — A disgusting tenant of most of the shores 

 around Sydney, is the toad-fish : most admirably named ; it looks precisely like a toad 

 elongated into a fish, with a tough, leathery, scaleless skin, and a bloated body, dark 

 mottled brown above, and white beneath. It is usually about five inches long, and dis- 

 proportionately broad, but swims very swiftly, and is for its size, as bold and voracious 

 as the shark. When I said Mr. Meredith did not fish with the rod, I might have 

 added that he could not, for the toad-fish, which swarm everywhere, no sooner see any- 

 thing dropped in the water, than they dart towards it by dozens, and fight among 

 themselves for the honour of swallowing your hook, generally taking the precaution to 

 bite off your line at the same time. This extreme anxiety to be caught might perhaps 

 be pardoned, were the greedy little wretches fit to eat, but they are highly poisonous ; 

 and although I should have thought their disgusting appearance sufficient to prevent 

 their being tried, I know one instance at least, of their fatal effects ; a lady with whose 

 family I am intimate having died in consequence of eating them. As they thus effec- 

 tually put a stop to our angling by biting off every hook dropped in the water before 

 any other fish had time to look at it, they especially enjoyed the benefit of the fishing 

 spear, upon which many hundreds, if not thousands, must have been impaled in succes- 

 sion. This sounds very wantonly cruel, but let no one pronounce it so, who is not well 

 acquainted with the toad-fish ; from those who are, I fear no reproof. When speared, 

 they directly inflate their leathery skins like a balloon, and eject a stream of liquid 

 from their mouths, with a report as if they had burst. If flung again into the water, 

 however wounded, they instantly swim about and begin eating; and should one be a 

 little less active than his fellows, they forthwith attack and eat him up. Even my poor 

 little harmless friends, the crabs, become their victims ; when those usually well-armed 

 troops have just got their soft new coats on, and are almost defenceless, then come the 

 cowardly, ravenous toad-fish, and make terrible onslaughts among them, an attention 

 which I believe the crabs eventually repay with interest. — Mrs. Meredith's Notes of 

 New South Wales, p. 155. 



Flowers attractive to Moths. — In addition to Mr. Gaze's list (Zool. 1088), I have 

 found the following flowers and shrubs attractive to moths, viz., the French and African 

 marygolds, the white verbena (Verbena teucrioidcs), sweet scabious, all the thistles, the 

 common laurel, privet, holly-leaved berberry, common berberry, and the mistletoe ; 



