•226 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Mr. W. F. Goodwin. Though common in the Atlantic, I believe its cap- 

 ture on this part of the coast is a very rare occurrence. — Herbert S. 

 Toms, Acting Curator (Brighton Public Museum). 



[The above figure differs somewhat from that given by Couch, in which 

 the apical margin of the tail and the outer margins of the fins are very 

 much more concave. I have, however, compared the drawing sent us by 

 Mr. Toms with a spirit specimen from Madeira in the British Museum, 

 with which it agrees. Jordan and Evermann, in their recently published 

 ' Fishes of North and Middle America ' (p. 1701), describe its distribution 

 as " Tropical parts of the Atlantic ; occasionally northward in the Gulf 

 Stream ; very common on our coast and in the Mediterranean, rarely north 

 to England." Under the name of Balistes carolinensis, they figure the 

 species, in which the tail and fins differ from Couch, and agree with our 

 diagrammatic figure. 



Of this rare fish, Couch gives three instances in which it has been 

 caught in British seas. In ' The Zoologist ' (1868, p. 1027) Mr. Cordeaux 

 reports a capture ofi" the Flamborough coast ; but Messrs. Clarke and 

 Roebuck (Zool. 1884, p. 183) state that they had satisfied themselves 

 that that fish was an Opah. In the same volume (p. 472) is an extract 

 from the 'Field,' recording a capture near Folkestone in September of that 

 year. The peculiar structure of the first dorsal fin is generally known. 

 Frank Bucklaud wrote that he had shown it to his friend, a well-known 

 gun and rifle maker of Newcastle-on-Tyne, who was so struck with its con- 

 formation that he promised to try and adapt its principle for some of his 

 safety-rifle locks (Nat. Hist. Brit. Fishes). — Ed.] 



THE PROTECTION OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



The Society for the Protection of our British Birds — a society which 

 is trying to do a great deal of good in many ways — some time ago offered 

 two prizes of ten and five pounds respectively for the two best essays on 

 the subject These have just recently been awarded. The question of 

 protection to be accorded to our British birds, many of which are sadly 

 in need of it, is a somewhat difficult one to deal with. That overworked, 

 heterogeneous combination known as the Government has, in these stirring 

 times, but little space to devote to legislation on the matter ; and even were 

 legislation satisfactorily accomplished, there yet remains the still more 

 difficult matter of enforcing the law. Unfortunately, as at present ad- 

 ministered, the Wild Birds' Protection Act is, in many places, little better 

 than a dead letter, and were it not that private enterprise frequently steps 

 in, it would be reduced to a mere farce. What is the use of fining a man 

 a nominal sum, when he has a wealthy collector behind his back, ready 



