Molluslfs. 4417 



they are constructed, is not mentioned." And it is further stated that 

 " Mr. Duncan, of Eyemouth, has ascertained that they belong to the 

 fifteen-spined stickleback, a fact confirmed by the Rev. Mr. Turnbull, 

 to whom the Club is indebted for specimens." The nest and habits 

 of the fish are then accurately described ; and in a concluding note it 

 is announced that Mr. Maclaren, of Coldinghame, had seen and 

 watched the stickleback in the act of making the nests. 



It would therefore appear that the credit is due to these gentlemen, 

 not only of publishing the first observations on this interesting sub- 

 ject, but also of determining the fact that these nests belong to the 

 fifteen-spined stickleback. 



A few Remarks on the Pulsations of some of the Land Mollusks. 

 By J. W. Watson, Esq. 



Having been engaged a little in the examination of the internal struc- 

 ture of some of the mollusks, — chiefly the Limaces, as being easier 

 to dissect than most, — and having unexpectedly become cognisant 

 of one or two facts respecting them, I thought it might not be out of 

 place to record some of these observations in the ' Zoologist,' for I 

 feel assured, from the papers on various subjects which appear in it 

 from time to time, that its contributors, and, as a matter of course, its 

 readers, do not confine themselves to the mere collection of specimens, 

 but aim at something higher. 



It is very pleasing to observe that the study of land and fresh-water 

 shells has become much more general than it was a few years ago, 

 particularly amongst young people ; and though they are most of them 

 small and insignificant in appearance, requiring very diligent search 

 in order to discover them, there is something very interesting even in 

 their outward form, of which there is considerable variety, from the 

 spirally twisted Clausilia to the disk-like Zonites ; and, in size too, 

 only compare the huge Helix Pomatia with his pigmy brother H. pyg- 

 msea ! When, however, we extend our inquiries to their inhabitants, 

 observing their habits and investigating their physiology, we at once 

 raise the study to a rank on a par with that of Zoology, Entomology, 

 or any other branch of Natural History. That to which I would in- 

 vite the attention of the readers of the ' Zoologist' is the circulating 

 system of the mollusks. Perhaps in none can it be better observed 

 than in the common slug (Limax maximns), from his large size : he is 



