Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/350

completely over, the tadpoles retired under the spawn left. 22nd and 23rd the same, but at 12 o'clock, the sun being very powerful, it thawed a little, producing; small pinholes in the ice over the tadpoles. 24th, ice rotten and porous over the centre of the spawn, where the tadpoles were. 25th, a thaw, over the tadpoles and spawn thawed first. 26th and 27th, frost, all torpid. 28th, thaw, all alive and pushing out the branchiæ; these were not visible when the tadpoles were first hatched, or before this day. The centre of each large piece of spawn was hatched first, and to-day all the edges, except some small pieces that perished, were hatched, and by 3 o'clock P.M. all the tadpoles hatched on the 18th, since, and to-day, were of the same size and in the same state. 29th, fine, tadpoles lively and growing. March 1st, pool frozen all over, and tadpoles torpid. 2nd, frozen, with air-holes over the tadpoles, all torpid. 3rd, a thaw, tadpoles alive but weak, and much reduced in size from the 29th of February. 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th, frozen every night but thawed each day, tadpoles assumed a more mature structure but did not increase in size, they measured from seven to eleven sixteenths of an inch in length. 8th, frost at night, day very warm. 9th and 10th weather the same, tadpoles lively but not grown. From the 11th to the 15th inclusive weather temperate, wind north and north-west, tadpoles lively, but have evidently decreased in size. 16th and 17th weather the same, tadpoles continue to decrease in size, the branchiæ have disappeared. 19th, 20th and 21st, weather a little warmer, tadpoles recovered their growth a little. 22nd, frost at night, hail and snow, 23rd and 24th, weather the same, tadpoles much smaller. 25th, three parts of the tadpoles dead, the rest very weak and small, hard frost last night, hail and snow to-day. 26th, hard frost and deep snow r, not more than five hundred tadpoles alive, and those weak and small. 27th, 28th and 29th, weather and tadpoles remain the same. 30th, change of weather, wind south-south-west, only about fifty tadpoles alive, no others to be seen. 31st, the same. April 1st, tadpoles alive, but very small, not exceeding seven tenths of an inch in length. 2nd to the 5th, tadpoles stationary as to size, the weather continuing dry, dried up the pool, numbers of dead tadpoles consumed by the birds. 6th and 7th, some few continued to struggle in the mud, which at last became quite dry, and all the tadpoles were destroyed by the birds.—Wm. Thompson; London, July 14, 1843.

Note on the Poaching 'propensities of Snakes and Adders. I am not aware if it is generally known that the common snake and the adder are both very destructive to young pheasants and partridges. A large adder was killed last year by a gamekeeper, which, upon being opened, was found to contain two young partridges. I have heard of one or two other instances of the kind, in which the common snake was the culprit. This is a fact worthy of notice to those who preserve game.—L. Pemberton Bartlett; Kingston, near Canterbury, July 27, 1843.

 

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Note on the fact of certain Fishes remaining stationary in size. Mr. Jesse, in his 'Gleanings,' mentions that in some waters perch remain stationary in size. Rather more than thirty years ago I was acquainted with three ponds near Lynn, in Norfolk, only a few yards distant from each other, one of which, I think the largest, abounded in tench, not exceeding three or four inches in length, whereas in the other ponds the fish were of the usual size. If I tried, I never caught any of the small tench, but they were constantly to be seen swimming about the pond. My idea that the one