Volume 9 - Electric Scotland

ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 249
measured 13.75 ins. in length, and is the only one observed here
during the past season. It was caught in one of the salmon-nets in
the Bay of Nigg. T. SCOTT, Aberdeen.
The occurrence of Mugil ehelo in the Bay of Nigg, near
Aberdeen. Four specimens of this Mullet have been obtained from
salmon fishers at the Bay of Nigg during the present summer.
Two of them were captured on 2oth June, one on i4th July, and
the other on 3oth July. The specimens measured about 14 to 15
ins. in length. The stomachs of three of the specimens contained
scarcely anything in the way of food, and the little they did contain
consisted of minute alga. The stomach of the fourth specimen
was moderately full, and the food consisted of the same kind of
alga, but the remains of no other organisms could be detected.
T. SCOTT, Aberdeen.
1
The occurrence of Clupea alosa in the Bay of Nig-g , near
Aberdeen. A specimen of the Allis Shad was obtained from salmon
fishers at the Bay of Nigg, on lyth August. It had been captured
in the salmon-nets. The specimen measured 20 ins. in length,
and weighed 2 Ibs. 6.25 ozs. The stomach of the specimen was
crammed with copepods, almost all of them belonging to the one
species, Temora longicornis a species which at times is
very common
in the sea. The contents of the stomach filled a 4 oz. bottle, and
appeared to consist entirely of copepods ; for, though carefully
examined, nothing else could be detected. It may be noted that
this specimen of C. alosa was ornamented on each side with a row
of somewhat indistinct dark-coloured spots, each row of spots
extending from the shoulder to the base of the caudal fin, and to
the casual observer the specimen might have been taken for a
Twaite Shad ;
the spots, however, were too numerous for that
species and besides the
;
number and character of the rakers on
the outer gill-arches left no doubt as to the specimen being an
Allis Shad. T. SCOTT, Aberdeen.
Insect Notes from Solway. We have again had a visitation of
the Death's-head Moth (Acherontia atropos) in the form of larvae
and pupa. One fine caterpillar was found feeding on potatoes near
Dumfries on 23rd August. Another came to me from Hightae
Moss, near Lockerbie, on 2Sth August. A few days later a third
larva was picked up at Kirkandrews in Borgue, Kirkcudbrightshire.
On 2oth September I was called in to identify a fine pupa dug up
at Kirkmahoe near Dumfries. These occurrences in the larval and
pupal stages are of much interest, because it is
only within the last
few years that the species, so far as I am aware, has ever been seen
in Solway otherwise than as an imago. Sphinx convolvuli was
captured at Portpatrick on 2oth August. This autumn there has
been a most brilliant display of Red Admiral Butterflies. More