42 



The Naturalist. 



exertion, that precludes me from entertaining the idea that it was a 

 buzzard. I find, on referring to the Zoologist for 1877, that no less than 

 three kites were seen in the county of Norfolk. One observed by Mr. 

 Gurney, jun., on May 2nd, had a light-coloured head. The sky was very 

 clear at the time, and he saw its head distinctly. Another is recorded by 

 Mr. Stevenson as having been killed about the third week in January. 

 Taking into consideration the facts that with advancing age the head 

 becomes lighter-coloured, in one sex at least, and the above specimen 

 mentioned by Mr. Gurney, the occurrence of the kite in this part with a 

 light-coloured head is not an extremely improbable contingency. I may 

 add, in conclusion, that I was not favourably situated for observing its 

 tail, even had it struck me at the moment, as I was on the brow of the 

 hill overlooking the beautiful Goit Stock valley, with an extensive tract 

 of moorland in the background. If I had seen the bird from beneath, I 

 could not have failed to notice the formation of its tail, which is its most 

 distinctive feature. — E. Butterfield. 



Whitby Conchological Addenda. — Seeing that so much care is being 

 taken to compile a list of the moUuscan fauna of Whitby and neighbour- 

 hood, perhaps it would be as well to send from time to time such 

 additions as one comes across whilst there, in the hope of attracting 

 other malacologists who reside nearer than ourselves to the work. 

 Common things which one scarcely ever puts into a list, such as Helix 

 aspersa, Avion ater, Limax agrestis, &c., are here, as elsewhere, a 

 nuisance ; nor is a yellow variety of the black slug A. ater uncommon 

 just outside the town. To the slugs we might add Limax maximus, 

 which occurs very abundantly in Bagdale, in company with L. flavus, 

 which has been already recorded. Near to Saltwick we took, whilst 

 examining in a pond some fresh-water algae, (Cladophora) Pisidium 

 <imnicum and P. pusillum. At a short distance from this pond we came 

 across Limncea peregra, var. decollata, in a horse-trough. Remarks 

 respecting captures, in whatever order, being always more useful 

 than bare lists, we append a Uttle observation made on this variety. The 

 trough is a small one, little used, and doing duty for two fields. From a 

 rill in one of these comes the supply of water, which fills the trough up 

 to a certain height, where it is checked by an exit pipe. The collected 

 water is exceedingly clear, not a particle of mud visible, and but little 

 sediment at the bottom — due, without doubt, to the filtration which the 

 water has undergone while passing along the sandy bottom of the water- 

 course. It is evident that under such conditions little lime is present, 

 and yet in this narrow area are hundreds of decollated peregra, living and 

 multiplying. If lime be very scarce or absent, abnormal shells must be 

 produced, and this is practically the case, for thin, small truncated shells 

 only obtain. It has been put forth more than once that snails decollate 

 their own shells. This may be true of terrestrial ones, but, from observa- 

 tions made upon some L. stagnalis which I have now in an aquarium, 

 existing under circumstances somewhat analagous to the case under 



