2i6 Milhiirn : Pochard Breeding in South-east Durham. 



Then in a subsequent letter he sends the following- report 

 from Rev. W. Smith : — ' The slide marked Tet. lacustris^ from 

 Hull, is a very interesting- one. I have written to Mr. Sollitt 

 for information about it. It is not a Tetracyclus, not having 

 one single character in common with that genus. Its mode of 

 g-rowth is essentially distinct, g-rowth in Tetracyclus being in- 

 definite, and in this form definite. I call it pro tem. Odontiditim 

 Sollittii. It is precisely my Odontidium tabellaria in a giant 

 state, as far as the general character and appearance go, but it 

 is certainly distinct, and I believe has never been figured or 

 described. I hope it is a native that I may give it in my 

 addenda.' 



To this Dr. Arnott adds :— ' I understand it was you and 

 not Mr. Sollitt who gathered it. If so it ought to be called 

 Harrisonii not Sollittii, but you and he must settle that point.' 



The point was settled by giving the new discovery the name 

 of Odontidium Harrisonii W. Sm. Subsequent writers have, 

 however, cut up the genus Odontidium and divided it between 

 Diatoma and Fragilaria, whereupon this form became Fragilaria 

 Harrisonii. 



But it seems it is not to be allowed to rest there. Peragallo 

 in his recent work, ' Les Diatomees Marines de France,' 

 separates certain of the genus Fragilaria , on the ground of a 

 difference of endochrome, which he finds to be in plates instead 

 of granules, as in the rest of the genus. If this author should 

 be followed our diatom will in future be known as Staurosira 

 Harrisonii. 



BIRDS, 



Pochard Breeding in South-east Durham. — In the spring 

 of 1903 a pair of Pochards successfully nested and brought off 

 a brood of young on one of the large reservoirs of South-east 

 Durham, and in April of this year they again appeared on the 

 same sheet of water. The nest was built at the foot of a Willow 

 bush about five yards from the water, and two eggs w^ere laid by 

 6th May, when misfortune overtook them. On the 8th the eggs 

 were found broken outside the nest, the w^ork of a dog or 

 Carrion Crow, and on the following day the drake was picked 

 up wounded, and died shortly after. As may be expected, the 

 female has sought more congenial quarters ; it is to be hoped 

 with better results.— C. E. Milburn, Middlesbrough. 



Naturalist, 



