NOTES AND QUERIES. 359 



Aberdeen fishing-grounds in March last there was found a perfect valve of 

 the Bearded Horse Mussel, Mytilus barbatus, both of which are now in 

 the Paisley Museum. Kegarding the latter shell, Gwyn Jeffreys (' British 

 Conchology,' vol. ii. p. 115), says, " it has not been recorded from any place 

 north of England ; " and it would seem that there is no certain record of its 

 inhabiting the north of Europe. — J, Taylor (Free Museum, Paisley). 



CRUSTACEA. 



Abnormal Size and Weight of Lobster. — In March last a Lobster 

 was caught on a long line at Whitby, which weighed while alive 9 lbs. 6 oz., 

 and measured as follows: — Total length from beak to extremity of tail, 

 18 in. ; greatest circumference, 13 in. ; breadth of tail, 8 in. ; length of 

 crusher claw, 17f in. ; circumference of ditto, 12 in. It has been preserved 

 for the Whitby Museum. 



The Angular Crab at Cullen, Banffshire.— In the stomach of a cod 

 taken at Cullen, on the Banffshire coast, in March last, there was found, 

 amongst other debris, a specimen of the Angular Crab, Gonoplax angulata. 

 There seem to be very few records of this crab being found in Scottish 

 habitats. Bell, in his 'British Stalk-eyed Crustacea,' writes concerning 

 it: — " It was not until this species was obtained by Montagu in the estuary 

 at Kingsbridge, Devon, that it was ascertained to be British. Since that 

 time it has been repeatedly taken on the southern parts of the coast. 

 I have not heard of its being taken in Scotland." Mr. B. Henderson, 

 writing on the Crustacean Fauna, in vol. i. of the ' Transactions of the 

 Natural History Society of Glasgow ' (1887), does not seem to have made 

 any capture of it, for, referring to G. angulata (p. 332), he quotes 

 Greville's record, viz. : — " On the Ayrshire coast, abreast of Arran." In 

 Smiles' • Life of Thomas Edward ' (1876), the Angular Crab is not included 

 in the Banffshire Fauna at the end of the book. It is said to live in 

 excavations in hardened mud. 



The Circular Crab on the Aberdeen Coast.— About the same time 

 as the above-mentioned capture of Gonoplax angulata, a specimen of the 

 Circular Crab, Atelecybus heterodon, was found in the stomach of a cod taken 

 off the Aberdeen fishing-grounds.— J. Taylok (Free Museum, Paisley). 



INSECTS. 



Destruction of Oaks by Tortrix viridana — The destruction of the 

 foliage of the oak woods in North Wales by the caterpillars of Tortrix 

 viridana, as described by Mr. E. L. Mitford (p. 317), is, I am sorry to 

 say, by no means unusual, and has occurred during several recent seasons; 

 notably in 1888, when the damage was much more general than during the 

 present summer. This moth forms a favourite food with most of the 



