NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
145
In time to see a frog hopping away. Lampyris noctiluca was not to be found
and she was presumably down froggy's gullet ! We have not seen the glow-
worm in the forest for many years. About 1879-82, they were very common
at Buckhurst Hill, but since the latter year not a specimen has been seen by
me until that solitary one occurred as above mentioned. I am disposed to
attribute the disappearance of this very interesting beetle to the increase of
snail-devouring birds. Snails are certainly getting scarcer in the open year by
year, and with them diminish the glow-worms which subsist upon the
molluscs. I should be glad to know from collectors whether Lampyris is now
rare in other places around London, Years ago the males were plentiful
enough with us in the Kentish, Surrey and Essex woods, dashing at night
against our entomological lanterns, whilst the females often glistened by
scores on the grassy banks—a charming and poetical sight.—W. Cole,
Buckhurst Hill, November, 1899.
CRUSTACEA.
The "Well-Shrimp" (Niphargus) in East Anglia.—In connection with
the Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing's address at the Conference of Local Scientific
Societies at Dover (ante p. 70), it may be interesting to refer to a paper by
Dr. Sidney F. Harmer, F.R.S., in the current part of the Transactions of the
Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society (vol. vi., p. 489), recording the occur-
rence of Niphargus aquilex, Schiödte, at Cringleford, near Norwich. Niphargus
is a small Amphipod Crustacean, with rudimentary eyes, and is interesting, Dr.
Harmer says, as being a typical member of the Cavernicolous fauna. It can
readily be distinguished from Gammarus pulex, the common "Freshwater
Shrimp," by its colourless, semi-transparent appearance, and by the slender-
ness of its form. Three species are recognised as British by Spence Bate and
Westwood (History of the British Sessile-eyed Crustacea, vol. i. (1863), pp. 311—
325), viz., N. kochianus, N. fontanus, and N. aquilex. Dr. Harmer gives many
details of distribution of members of the genus, and alludes to the very
complete summary of the literature of the Amphipoda, including papers on
Niphargus, given by the Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, in the Challenger Reports
(vol. xxix., pt. lxvii., 1888). We hope that some of our observers will search
for this interesting Crustacean (together with the well-worm, Phreoryctes, ante,
p. 1), in suitable localities in Essex. It is probably a common form, if well
looked for. Mr. Stebbing informs us that an old lady had lately told him
that she was familiar with the Well-shrimp at Norwich in her youth.
Dr. Harmer suggests that the device employed by Prof. Herdman in the
examination of the surface fauna of the ocean (Brit. Ass. Rep., 1897, p. 695),
viz., by tying a muslin bag over the taps through which the water may be
pumped, or is flowing, may lead to the detection of the shrimp. Niphargus has
been recorded from several southern English counties, and from many Conti-
nental localities.—Ed.
MOLLUSCA.
Mollusca in the Old Bed of the Lea River.—The Rev. J. W. Horsley,
St. Peter's Rectory, Walworth has communicated to Science Gossip (vol. vi.,
N.S., 18)) some interesting notes on the Mollusca observed in the old bed of
the river Lea, near Park Station, Tottenham, during a recent excursion of the
Conchological Society. The observations, he remarks, showed what "a