MISCELLANY. 
217 
captured on Thursday evening last, near Close House, the residence of Mrs.. 
Bewick, near Newcastle, and has been presented by that lady, in a state of the 
finest preservation, to the Natural History Society, Newcastle, to be deposited 
in the museum. The Moth, about eight o’clock in the evening, probably attracted 
by the light of the fire, flew into the house of Mr. Clarke, the gardener. When 
on the wing it resembled, in size, a Bat, its body being of considerable circum¬ 
ference, and upwards of two inches long; whilst its wings, when extended, are 
upwards of five inches across.—Mrs. Clarke and her family were much alarmed, 
but Mr. Clarke shut the door, and set to work to capture the intruder. When 
pursued, its scream resembled that of a Mouse, but it was eventually taken 
without having received the slightest injury. It proved to be a fine specimen of 
the Death’s-head Moth, so called from its having, immediately behind its head, a 
large and perfect figure of the head of a human skeleton. The representation of 
the “Death’s-head” is bone-coloured, surrounded by a black ground, which brings 
the colour out prominently. The place of the “ lack-lustre eye-holes ” of the 
skull are represented by black spots, and the sunken cheeks of this natural 
memento mori are rendered prominent by a darker shading. The body and 
wings of the insect are beautifully marked, and such perfect specimens of the 
Death’s-head Moth as the one under notice are, we believe, in this country very 
rare.— Tyne Mercury , Oct. 1837- 
Crenilabrus rupestris found in the Frith of Forth. —The storm of the 24th 
and 25th of February, although productive of disastrous consequences in several 
places, has afforded many rare marine productions to the active naturalists. In 
the vicinity of Leith especially, and for many miles down the Frith of Forth, the 
whole beach above tide-mark was completely covered with the wrecks of the 
bottom of the ocean. The number of shells—principally the common Solen 
siliqua —was really wonderful. Among the Crustacea , which might have been 
gathered by barrow-fuls, I observed several specimens of Galathea strigosa and 
G. rugosa . But perhaps the rarest object which I picked up was a specimen of 
what appears to’be Jago’s Goldsinny ( Labrus—Crenilabrus — rupestris; Serranus 
rupestris of Bloch), a fish which I believe was first satisfactorily proved to be a 
British species by Mr. Selby, from an examination of three specimens procured 
in February, 1836, one on the coast of Bamborough, the other two in Berwick 
Bay, and described by that gentleman in the Magazine of Zoology and Botany . 
Since then Mr. Thompson, of Dublin, has recorded, in the same periodical, the 
capture of two others, taken in September, 1835, at Bangor, in the sister Isle, 
In Mr. Yarrell’s admirable British Fishes , a figure is given of a very small 
specimen which appears to belong to this species. These are the only instances 
of its occurrence which I can find recorded. My specimen measures 6 f inches in 
length, corresponding in size with that figured by Selby, with which it otherwise 
vol. in. — no. xix. 2 a 
