NOTES AND QUERIES. 579 



Evolution of Bird-Song ' I have been preparing my ' Dictionary,' which is 

 now ready for the press. I may say I mentioned this to Mr. Warde 

 Fowler last spring. I have, of course, obtained help from others, and 

 gleaned from the literature of the subject. — Charles A. Witchell 

 (Elthara, Kent). 



PISCES. 



The Porbeagle in Manx Waters.— The capture of this Shark, Lamna 

 cornubica, is worth recording, as it is the first time it has been taken (or, 

 at all eveuts, recorded) off the Manx coast. It was found on November 3rd, 

 by William Gawne, floundering in rather shallow water, in Derby Haven, at 

 the south of the Isle of Man. He struck it with a bit of drift wood, " when 

 it flew into the air"; he then killed it with a stone. W T hen it reached me 

 it was too far gone for preservation ; but a photograph of it had been taken 

 by Mr. Capam, by which it could be identified. I found it to be a good 

 specimen, answering exactly to Day's description. I could not find the 

 "spiracles" to which he refers as sometimes seen between the eye and first 

 gill-opening. The colour was a dull grey, with peculiar sheen above and 

 white beneath. It measured in a straight linejrom the tip of the snout to 

 the centre of the tail, 37£ inches, and five inches more to the tip of the 

 longest lobe. The viscera had been removed when sent to me; Gawne had 

 noticed nothing in its stomach except "dirt." For some time previously 

 he had noticed large fish in his nets cut clean in half, no doubt by this 

 individual. Day says this species is not rare in the Orkneys and Shetland, 

 has been met with all round the east coast,* and is common in Cornwall. 

 It appears to be infrequent on the west coast, but has been taken in Dublin 

 Bay and Belfast Lough. 



Last summer I obtained a specimen of an allied species, the Thresher, 

 Alopecias vulpes, from the Point of Ay re. It was even more decayed than 

 this one. It also had not previously been recorded as Manx. 



A movement is now on foot to have a good Museum in the Isle of Man, 

 and I trust it will not be very long before we are able to provide for the 

 due preservation not only of rare and unusual specimens, but of all the fish 

 in our waters — a collection, in fact, which will afford a perfect illustration 

 of the natural history as well as of the archaeology of the Isle of Man. — 

 P. M. C. Kermode (Ramsey, Isle of Man). 



Large Tunny on the Essex Coast. — A large specimen of the Common 

 Tunny, Orcynus thynnus, the pectoral fin being only about a foot in 

 length, was found ashore on Foulness on October '<J4th. It was quite nine 

 feet long, and as much in circumference. Mr. H. L. Matthams writes me 

 that " a full-sized man sitting on the top could not touch the ground with 



* Not uncommon at Great Yarmouth {ante, pp. 5G4-5). — Ed. 



