l62 



N'ofes and Comments. 



species of Somatogyrus from Alabama, and New species of 

 Lymncea. Strang-ely enouo;h, these papers are immediately 

 followed by three short notes. The first points out that the 

 name for a new g-enus (Aporenia) had previously been used for 

 an insect. A new name is therefore sug-gested — Panacea. 

 Similarly, the name Triehodina, proposed for a land shell, was 

 used in 1830 for a g-enus of Foraminifera ! The MoUuscan 

 g-enus is therefore chang;ed to Petriola. The third correction 

 refers to a recent description of ' a shell supposed to be that of 

 a slug, under the name Vaiicheria tingifana.' Fresh specimens 

 have recently been received, however, which prove ' to be plates 

 (the tergum) of Pollicipes eomiueopia, a stalked barnacle of 

 European seas. The supposed new genus therefore becomes 

 a synonym of the Cirrhipede' ! We are afraid that some of our 

 conchologists (who are by no means alone in this respect) are in 

 too grea.t a hurry to publish the results of their researches. 

 There ought to be a sort of Naturalists' ' black list,' upon which 

 the names of all offenders should be placed and circulated ! We 

 pity the compiler of a future ' Index Animalium.' 



THE PACIFIC EIDER IX BRITAIN. 

 The story of the occurrence in Britain of the Pacific Eider, 

 as told by Mr. C. Oldham,"'^ is an interesting one. It will be 

 remembered that a few months ago a Pacific Eider was recorded 

 in the principal natural history journals as shot at Scarborough. 

 It appears that an Oldham naturalist ' received a drake Eider in 

 the flesh from a Scarborough dealer. The black chevron on the 

 chin at once suggested that the bird w^as not a Common Eider.' 

 On communicating with the Scarborough dealer for further 

 particulars the latter replied ' that the Eider had been consigned 

 to him in the ordinary course of trade by an Orkney wild-fowler 

 — whose name was withheld — and was forwarded to Oldham 

 within half an hour of its arrival in Scarborough, without having' 

 undergone a scrutiny which might have revealed its identity. 

 Inquiries made at Orkney . . . have elicited the information 

 that the bird was shot out of a flock at Graemsay by a wild- 

 fowler named George Sutherland.' There is sufficient evidence, 

 however, to establish the bird as a British specimen, and the 

 Oldham naturalist has evidently got a good bargain. It is 

 strange that the bird should have reached the Orkneys — a place 

 so far remote from its known habitat, the Behring Sea. 



* Mem. and Proc. Maiichestei" Lit. and Phil. Soc, Vol. 49, Pari 2. 



Xatii ralist. 



