322 Fishes, 



completely over, the tadpoles retired under the spawn left. 22nd and 23rd the same, 

 but at 12 o'clock, the sun being very powerful, it thawed a little, producing small pin- 

 holes in the ice over the tadpoles. 24th, ice rotten and porous over the centre of the 

 spawn, where the tadpoles were. 25th, a thaw, over the tadpoles and spawn thawed 

 first. 26th and 27th, frost, all torpid. 28th, thaw, all alive and pushing out the 

 branchiae ; these were not visible when the tadpoles were first hatched, or before this 

 day. The centre of each large piece of spawn was hatched first, and to-day all the 

 edges, except some small pieces that perished, were hatched, and by 3 o'clock P.M. all 

 the tadpoles hatched on the 18th, since, and to-day, were of the same size and in the 

 same state. 29tli, fine, tadpoles lively and growing. March 1st, pool frozen all over, 

 and tadpoles torpid. 2nd, frozen, with air-holes over the tadpoles, all torpid. 3rd, 

 a thaw, tadpoles alive but weak, and much reduced in size from the 29th of February. 

 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th, frozen every night but thawed each day, tadpoles assumed a 

 more mature structure but did not increase in size, they measured from seven to ele- 

 ven sixteenths of an inch in length. 8th, frost at night, day very warm. 9th and 10th 

 weather the same, tadpoles lively but not grown. From the 11th to the 15th inclu- 

 sive weather temperate, wind north and north-west, tadpoles lively, but have evidently 

 decreased in size. 16th and 17th weather the same, tadpoles continue to decrease in 

 size, the branchiae have disappeared. 19th, 20th and 21st, weather a little warmer, 

 tadpoles recovered their growth a little. 22nd, frost at night, hail and snow, 23rd and 

 24th, weather the same, tadpoles much smaller. 25th, three parts of the tadpoles dead, 

 the rest very weak and small, hard frost last night, hail and snow to-day. 26th, hard 

 frost and deep snow, not more than five hundred tadpoles alive, and those weak and 

 small. 27th, 28th and 29th, weather and tadpoles remain the same. 30th, change of 

 weather, wind south-south-west, only about fifty tadpoles alive, no others to be seen. 

 31st, the same. April Jst, tadpoles alive, but very small, not exceeding seven tenths 

 of an inch in length. 2nd to the 5th, tadpoles stationary as to size, the weather con- 

 tinuing dry, dried up the pool, numbers of dead tadpoles consumed by the birds. 6th 

 and 7th, some few continued to struggle in the mud, which at last became quite dry, 

 and all the tadpoles were destroyed by the birds. — Wm. Thompson; London^ July 14, 

 1843. 



Note on the Poaching propensities of Snakes and Adders. I am not aware if it is 

 generally known that the common snake and the adder are both very destructive to 

 young pheasants and partridges. A large adder was killed last year by a gamekeeper, 

 which, upon being opened, was found to contain two young partridges. I have heard 

 of one or two other instances of the kind, in which the common snake was the culprit. 

 This is a fact worthy of notice to those who preserve game. — L. Pemberton Bartlett ; 

 Kingston^ near Canterbury^ July 27, 1843. 



Note on the fact of certain Fishes remaining stationary in size. Mr. Jesse, in his 

 ' Gleanings,' mentions that in some waters perch remain stationary in size. Rather 

 more than thirty years ago I was acquainted with three ponds near Lynn, in Norfolk, 

 only a few yards distant from each other, one of which, I think the largest, abounded 

 in tend), not exceeding three or four inches in length, whereas in the other ponds the 

 fish were of the usual size. If I tried, I never caught any of the small tench, but 

 they were constantly to be seen swimming about the pond. My idea that the one 



