2464 Corallines, fyc. 



and drawings of its structural details. The facts and characters were sufficient to 

 identify the insect, and to distinguish it from eveiy known species of the family to 

 which it belongs. Notwithstanding this, Mr. Newport (who was present at the above- 

 mentioned meeting) had recently read a memoir on the same insect before the Linnean 

 Society, and had given it the name of Anthophorabia retusa ; the description of which, 

 however, communicated by himself, and published in the * Gardener's Chronicle' of 

 the 24th of March last, was perfectly unintelligible, — six out of nine of the characters 

 laid down by Mr. Newport being erroneous. 



Mr. Westwood likewise complained that in the Eeport of the Proceedings of the 

 Linnean Society, of the 1st of May inst. (reported in the Gardener's Chronicle of the 

 6th inst.), Mr. Newport had stated that Mr. W. had mistaken the rudiments of the an- 

 tennae, in the larvae of the Ichneumonidae, for ocelli ; the fact being, that although 

 De Geer had described the dark points in question as eyes, Mr. Westwood, having in 

 view the structure of the head of the larvae of the saw-flies (possessing both ocelli and 

 antennae), and of the aculeate Hymenoptera (possessing neither), had expressly 

 guarded himself from determining their nature, simply stating that they resembled 

 ocelli.— J. W. D. 



Notes on the Marine Zoology of Dunbar. — Corallines, Zoophytes and Annelides. 

 By Robekt Geay, Esq. 



I beg to offer the following observations in Natural History, the result of my ram- 

 bles on the Dunbar shore during the past year. In this communication there may 

 be nothing new or startling, yet the simple narration of these may not be without a 

 portion of the usual interest attached to such subjects. 



During four months of the winter season — from November, 1847, to March, 1848 

 — I was in the daily habit of visiting the fishing-boats, on their return to the harbour ; 

 a practice which every sea-side naturalist should pursue if he desires to enlarge his 

 acquaintance with marine zoology. The interest of these visits is much increased 

 when the fishermen are previously instructed to retain all the treasures which are 

 dragged from the deep ; and often have I been delighted with the sea productions 

 handed to me by these hardy sons of the ocean, who even become interested in what 

 they bring when they are told something of its history. 



The most interesting of all marine objects are the corallines and zoophytes. At 

 Dunbar the commoner kinds occur in profusion, and I have had the satisfaction of 

 gathering in one day as many as filled an ordinary-sized washing-tub. These, carried 

 to a dark cellar, were laid under the stream of a water-pipe, and, on being stirred with 

 a piece of wood, they appeared as a perfect ball of living flame. The phosphorescent 

 light was obviously produced by a soft-bodied, pink-coloured worm, which lay entwined 

 about the stalks of the various zoophytes ; and it shone most brilliantly when the 

 worm was in motion. I proved this to be the chief source of light in the following 

 way : having procured a fresh bundle, two hours after being taken from the sea, seve- 

 ral handfuls were carefully selected, deprived of their luminous parasites, and thrown 

 into a tub of fresh water. On stirring the mass, however, no flame appeared but a 



