178 Scientific Intelligence. 



rescent appearance of the water is much more noticed some years thnn 

 others. They associate its presence with southerly winds. — Byerley, 

 Fauna of Liverpool, in Lit. and Phil. Trans, for 1854. 



Actinia Troglodites has been found in pretty good numbers upon the 

 Leasowe shore and near Egremont slip. I have kept as many as eight or 

 ten together for upwards of six weeks. They were often very ill-used for 

 want of a fresh supply of sea water, but seemed to be most tolerant under 

 the infliction. It was seldom until after having been kept for ten or twelve 

 days in the same water, that they began to droop considerably, and they 

 were speedily restored by a change. No food was given at any time. At 

 first they threw off a great number of germs or ova, which, before they 

 were extruded, could be plainly seen through the external envelope, and 

 especially at the bases of those specimens which had not attached them- 

 selves, and could be turned over for examination. It appeared quite clear 

 to me that these germs, young actinias, (or whatever they may properly be 

 called), made their exit through breaches of continuity in the outer enve- 

 lope, near its junction with the basal disk, and sometimes through ragged 

 apertures in the base itself; in fact, I have hooked out the germs which 

 were just on the point of emerging with a blunt probe, which was deli- 

 cately used, and did not make the opening. The germs were about the 

 size of a pin's head, and perfectly globular; they showed, by careful 

 watching, a very sluggish motion. Three or four were put into a wide- 

 necked 1^ oz. bottle, having a ground glass stopper, with some sea water, 

 and were intended for a microscopic inspection in the evening ; they were 

 quite forgotten, however, and at the expiration of two months, one was 

 found to have become developed into a perfect but very small actinia, the 

 oral disk with the tentacles being fully and beautifully expanded. It is 

 now (after six months) alive, but has never increased in size ; it continues 

 closely shut up, when there is a fresh supply of water, for some days, but 

 after a week, and from that to a fortnight, fully expands again. For this 

 reason the water has not been changed more than six times since it has 

 been in my possession. No pabulum of any kind has ever been given. 

 It seems to make no difference whether the stopper is kept in the bottle 

 or not, so far as the animal's health is concerned. These creatures were 

 6hy of expanding during the day, and then were as flat as a coin. I used 

 always to pay them a visit before bedtime, knowing that I should be re- 

 paid by a view of their full-blown expansion during the previous dark- 

 ness ; the stimulus of candlelight used to set their tentacula in active 

 motion, without making them " retire for the night." — Ibid. 



Testaceous Mollusca. — The following northern species of testaceous 

 mollusca reach their most southern habitat about the northern and central 

 parts of the British Seas, though a few of them re-appear on the Nymph 

 bank, a kind of Arctic outpost off the south of Ireland. 

 Panopoea Norvegica, North Sea Chiton marmoreus, N. Sea, Hebrides 



Tellina proxima, „ 



Astarte elliptica, Clyde and North Sea 



„ arctica, Zetland 

 Cardium Suecicum, Irish Sea 

 Crenella nigra, North Sea, Hebrides 



„ decussata, „ ,, 



Nucula tenuis, Scotland, Irish Sea 



Acmaea testudinalis, Irish Sea 

 Pylidium fulvum, Clyde & South of 



Ireland 

 Propylidium ancyloides, „ 



Puncturella noachina, „ 



Emarginula crassa, Carnarvonshire 

 Trochus Alabastrum, Orkney 



Leda pygmaea, Hebrides „ undulatus, Hebrides 



Pecten niveus, „ „ helicinus, Hebrides&Irish Sea 



Aiiomia striata, „ Scissurella crispata, Clyde 



Hippothyris psittacea, North Sea | Aporrhais Pes Carbonis, Zetland 



Terebratula Cranium, Zetland Cerithium metula, Zetland 



f'hiton Hanleyi, North Sea, Hebrides | Scalaria Groenlandica, North Sea 



