152 NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
notwithstanding that in the interim the carriage has been used to form part of a
local train running between Dagenham and Fenchurch Street."—"Evening
Standard," May 17th, 1894.
Galeus vulgaris (the Toper) off Clacton.—On Saturday, September
29th, 1894, a male specimen of this shark, five feet four inches long, was brought
to me for inspection. It was caught in a trawl, a short distance outside the Colne.
The captors appear to have been much afraid of their prize, when they found what
they had in their net, and took considerable trouble to kill it by hammering its
head.—Henry Laver, F.L.S., Colchester, October 1st, 1894.
Capture of a Sheat Fish (Silurus Glanis) in the Stour—On June
15th, 1869, Sir J. T. Rowley, of Tendring Hall, Stoke-by-Nayland, turned out
four females and one male of the Silurus glanis into a piece of water in his park,
the overflow from which runs into the river Stour. After a heavy thunderstorm
on July -5th, some nets, known as eel brays, were put into the stream at Stratford
Mill for the purpose of catching a run of eels as they proceeded down stream to
deposit their spawn in salt water. During this operation Mr. Busby, a game-
keeper, and Mr. W. Gifford were somewhat startled at hauling out, in one of the
eel brays, a monstrous fish, five feet long, and over thirty pounds in weight. It
proved to be a Silurus glanis, or Sheat-fish, and there can be no doubt that it
came from the Park Lake at Stoke-by-Nayland. The fish is unknown in Great
Britain as a native, though it frequents many of the large Continental rivers.
Many experiments with a view to English acclimatisation have been made, but
hitherto, I believe, without known results. The specimen has been sent to a
London taxidermist for preservation. It is greatly to be hoped that no large
family of these voracious and destructive creatures lurks in the depths of the
Stour. A proposal is now on foot to stock the river with Chub and Barbel, but a
few Siluri would probably make short work of the new comers. We have in this
country laws against the destruction of fish by dynamite and by poison, but the
eventuality of their wholesale slaughter by the introduction into rivers of such
foes as the Silurus does not appear to have entered into the arena of practical
politics.—Charles E. Benham, Colchester, July 31st, 1894.
Pentamerous Symmetry in Aurelia observed in Essex Waters.—
While shore-hunting at Brightlingsea on August 4th I came upon a stranded
Aurelia which exhibited a pentamerous instead of the usual tetramerous sym-
metry. I append a brief description :—Sub-umbrella surface presents five equally
developed oral lobes at the five corners of the mouth. Intermediate with these
lobes are five horse-shoe shaped reproductive organs, also five sub-genital pits
with orifices. There are five perradial branched canals, five interradial, also
branched, and ten adradial straight canals. Thus it will be seen that the animal
presents a pentamerous symmetry, which is unusual among the Coelenterata.—
Herbert W. Unthank, B.Sc, 37, Aden Grove, Green Lanes, N.
[Mr. Unthank's observation gave rise to an interesting correspondence in
"Nature." Prof. Herdman remarks, on August 30th, that "in an expedition of
the Liverpool Biological Society to Hilbre Island a few weeks ago, we found
several such specimens, and remarked upon the frequency of the variation. I
think the number was either four or five pentamerous forms out of twelve
examined." Dr. H. C. Sorby, F.R.S., who is so well acquainted with the natural
history of our Essex Waters, wrote on August 31st from his yacht "Glimpse,"
off Burnham : "During the last few months I have seen countless thousands of
living specimens of A urella aurita, and have paid special attention to abnormal