OCR Text |
Show 1868.] DR. A. G U N T H E R O N T H E BRITISH CLUPEAE. 377 attained a much greater size than C. galeatus. Total length, from the summit of the helmet to the end of the caudal feathers, about 72 in.; total height of the crest, from its base to the summit, 5*8 ; distance from the gape to the end of the bill, in a straight line, 6*1; length of tarsus 13*3 ; length of inner toe with the nail 6*3, nail of do. 3*5 ; length of middle toe with the nail 7*0, outer do. with the nail 4*5. The wing in C. australis was composed of four or five strong barbless quills, and terminated, as in other species of the genus, by a well-developed claw. The gular caruncle appeared rather to resemble that of C. galeatus, being divided nearly down to its base, and terminating in two flaps, which in the present specimen were of unequal length, one measuring 2*3, and the other 3*9, from the junction. These caruncles were sparingly covered with hairs, which Mr. Sclater had not noticed in the case of the other Cassowaries, Dr. A. Giinther, F.R.S., made some observations on the various species of Clupea found on the British coasts, which were stated to be five in number, namely, the Herring (Clupea harengus), the Spratt (C. sprattus), the Alice-Shad (C. alosa), the Twaite-Shad (C.finta), and the Pilchard (C. pilchardus). Dr. Giinther showed, by the exhibition of various specimens and diagrams, that the so-called C. alba, or Whitebait, which had been considered by several authors a distinct species, and by Prof. Valenciennes had been even elevated into the rank of a distinct genus (Rogenia), was nothing more than the young of the common Herring. Dr. Giinther likewise referred C. leachii of Yarrell to a well-developed variety of the Herring, and considered the so-called Alosa squamo-pinnata of Couch (Brit. Fish. iv. p. 123, t. 206) a hybrid between the Pilchard and one of the two Shads. Mr. Tegetmeier called the attention of the Society to the progress recently made in Salmon-breeding at the Stormontfield ponds, on the Tay. In November 1867, 350,000 eggs were spawned artificially and deposited in the ponds : of these 200,000 were hatched this spring. The smolts of last and the previous year, which left for the sea during M a y 1868, were very much larger than those of previous seasons-the fishes of one year old being as large as those of two years' age of previous seasons. This great increase of size was evidently owing to the change which had been effected in their dietary. Formerly the fish were fed during their smolt-condition on boiled ox-liver rubbed down to coarse powder. Recently the aquatic weeds in the ponds had become covered with Limncea peregra, on which the fish had fed greedily, and to which the great increase of size was undoubtedly to be attributed. Mr. E. T. Higgins exhibited and made remarks on a skin of a variety of the Puma (Felis concolor) from the southern part of South America. |