5528 Fishes. 



sketch intended for the Society's diploma, if approved by the Meeting; it was unani- 

 mously decided to accept the design. 



Several letters were read from gentlemen who had been elected Honorary Mem- 

 bers, thanking the Society for the highly prized honour it had conferred upon them. 



The paper of the evening, 'Is Acronycta Salicis a distinct Species?' was read by 

 Mr. N. Cooke. (For this paper see the Society's 'Transactions' for 1856 — 7, now in 

 the press). 



The President announced the death of an esteemed Honorary Member of the So- 

 ciety, David Dyson, the Central American traveller, and called upon the Secretary to 

 read a short memoir of his early life ; also a letter which appeared in the ' Liverpool 

 Mercury' of December 31, 1856, entitled " Honour to whom honour is due'' (signed 

 C. S. Gregson), animadverting upon the neglect of such great men as Dyson by 

 our learned and Natural History Societies ; also a letter, in the same paper of 

 January 3, 1857, entitled " Lancashire men of Science in humble life," which it was 

 supposed was intended as a reply to the above. The Meeting could not understand 

 the writer, who signed himself "An Old Naturalist." Several Members requested 

 Mr. Gregson to reply to the letter ; but that gentleman declined noticing the attacks 

 of an anonymous writer. 



Dallas's 'Elements of Entomology,' which was on the table, seemed to give gene- 

 ral satisfaction; whilst 'A Manual of British Butterflies and Moths' was rather 

 roughly handled, especially for its want of synonyms. — C. S. G. 



Note on a Shark taken near the Land's End. — I observe in the January number of 

 the 'Zoologist' a notice on the white shark " cast up at Herm," in which is expressed 

 a very reasonable doubt whether that fish is fully recognised as British : J am quite 

 aware that my valued friend the late Mr. Yarrell always entertained an objection to 

 admitting it into his work, because the evidence laid before him was not sufficient to 

 convince him of the species; but he was always aware of the existence of a shark in 

 our seas, which either was the white shark or altogether a new one : while he was pre- 

 paring for the second edition of his valuable work, I again tried to get him to assert 

 positively that it had been captured, but he was reluctant to do so, and, up to a short 

 time before his death, he still continued to doubt the authenticity of the specimens 

 mentioned. But, within the last three years, I have had an opportunity of examining 

 several specimens, two of which were taken at Whitsand Bay, Land's End, and one 

 in Mount's Bay ; and, besides these, I have seen others moving about in the same 

 localities: one, at the Land's End, measured rather more than 19 feet, was a stout 

 and powerful fish, and is well represented by Yarrell's figure: it is quite unnecessary 

 to enter into a description of it, unless it should be required for a third edition of the 

 ' British Fishes,' when this, besides three others, would form an addition to our Fauna. 

 I enclose you a figure of one which Mr. Yarrell saw, and which, from its shape, he was 

 inclined to think might be a variety of the blue shark (Carcharias glaucus). But last 

 summer I had an opportunity of examining two specimens captured in Mount's Bay 

 at the same time when many scores of the blue shark were also thrown on the beach, 

 so that I had an excellent opportunity for comparison, of which I did not fail to take 

 advantage : the general figure and appearance of both are very much alike, but the 



