2356 Reptiles — Fishes. 



crawled out : on the slightest alarm they retreated back again, — and this they did re- 

 peatedly for several days, during which time many people came to see it. The young 

 which White of Selborne cut out of the old female, and which immediately threw 

 themselves into attitudes of defiance, had probably not then seen the daylight for the 

 first time. Mr. Bell, in a note in Bennett's edition of White's Selborne, mentions 

 the wide-spread belief in this alleged habit of the viper ; but appears to consider the 

 fact not proved. Accounts of similar habits in foreign viviparous snakes, common re- 

 port, and, above all, Mr. Percival's observation, leave no doubt on my mind about the 

 matter. — John Wolley ; 3, Roxburgh Terrace, Edinburgh. 



Enormous undescribed Animal, apparently allied to the Enaliosauri, seen in the 

 Gulf of Calif ornia. — Captain the Hon. George Hope states, that when in H.M.S. 

 Fly, in the gulf of California, the sea' being perfectly calm and transparent, he saw at 

 the bottom a large marine animal, with the head and general figure of the alligator, 

 except that the neck was much longer, and that instead of legs the creature had four 

 large flappers, somewhat like those of turtles, the anterior pair being larger than the 

 posterior : the creature was distinctly visible, and all its movements could be observed 

 with ease : it appeared to be pursuing its prey at the bottom of the sea : its movements 

 were somewhat serpentine, and an appearance of an nidations or ring-like divisions of 

 the body was distinctly perceptible. Captain Hope made this relation in company, and 

 as a matter of conversation : when I heard it from the gentleman to whom it was nar- 

 rated, I inquired whether Captain Hope was acquainted with those remarkable fossil 

 animals, Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri, the supposed forms of which so nearly cor- 

 respond with what he describes as having seen alive, and I cannot find that he had 

 heard of them ; the alligator being the only animal he mentioned as bearing a partial 

 similarity to the creature in question. — Edward Newman. 



Occurrence of the Blind Worm (Anguis fragilis) in December. — A young specimen 

 of the blind worm or slow worm, of the length of 3 inches, was brought alive to me 

 for the Worcestershire Museum, on Saturday, the 9th instant, on which day it was 

 picked up in the road near the foot of Houlton Hill, by J. H. Woakes, Esq., who 

 presented it. It is stated in Bell's ' British Beptiles ' that it retires in the autumn 

 under masses of decayed wood or leaves, or into soft dry soil, where it is covered with 

 heath or brushwood, and penetrates to a considerable depth, in such situations, by 

 means of its smooth rounded muzzle and even polished body. The mildness of the 

 season may probably be the cause of this deviation from its wonted course of hyber- 

 nation. — George Reece ; Worcester, December 16, 1848. 



Remarlcable Instance of Instinct in a Pihe. — At a late meeting of the Liverpool 

 Literary and Philosophical Institution the following curious facts were narrated by 

 Dr. Warwick, one of the members, with respect to instinct in animals. He stated 

 that when he resided at Dunham, the seat of the Earl of Stamford and Warrington, 

 he was walking one evening in the park, and came to a pond where fish, intended for 

 the table, were kept. He took notice of a fine pike, about six pounds weight, which, 

 when it observed him, darted hastily away. In so doing, it struck its head against a 

 tenter-hook in a post (of which there were several in the pond, placed to prevent 



