No. 4729 June 18, 1960 NATURE 989 Service for his co-operation in supplying ammoccetes C. kempi on the Welsh coast. In fact the western of P. marinu8. two-thirds of the North Atlantic were colder in 1959 M. W. HARDISTY than for many years past, only the Bay of Biscay, the Department of Chemistry and Biology, N.orth Sea and waters east of about 20° W_ being College of Technology, Bristol. slightly warmer than average. It seems much more 1 Hardisty, M. W., Nature, 173, 874 (1954). likely to be associated with some anomaly of the • Young, R. T., and Cole, L. J., Amer. Nat., 34, 617 (1900). prevailing water currents. Over the north-eastern • Reighard, J., Science, 17, 529 (1903). • Okkelberg, P., J. Morph., 35 (1926). Atlantic, especially the waters around the British , Schultze, L. P., Occ. Pap. Mus. Zoo!. Univ. Mich., 221, 1 (1930). Isles and farther north, there was a remarkable • Ivanova-Berg, M. 111., Zool. Anz.. 96, 330 (1931). prevalence of southerly winds in the autumn of 1959. , Zanan<irea, G., Boll. Pesc. Pisco e Idrobiol., 6, 1 (1951). The autumn and early winter, including December, • Applegate, V. C., U.S. :Fish and Wild!. Servo Spec. Rep .. 55. 1 (1950). were also notable for the repeated occurrence of a great sweep of west to north-west winds across the whole width of the Atlantic fanning cold water Caretta kemp; Garman on Welsh Coast eastwards towards the Bay of Biscay ; and this ON January 3, a Mexican or Kemp's loggerhead might possibly have produced a flow of water from the turtle, Ca7'etta kempi Garman, was found at high­ Bay of Biscay northwards to the shores of Britain. water mark on Kenfig Dunes in Glamorgan. It was Note added in proof. Since the above was written, dead, but the body was in a good state of preservation, I have been informed that the Brit,ish Museum though the shields of the carapace were mostly mis­ (Natural History) received a specimen of Cm'etta caretta sing. The weight was 2,420 gm., the carapace being found alive at South Uist on J anuary 8 this year. 244 mm. long and 224 mm. at its maximum width; COLIN MATHESON the length of the plastron was 199 mm. Two other Department of Zoology, specimens of this species, one slightly larger and one Nations.! Musewn of Wales, Cardiff, slightly smaller, are in the collection of this Depart­ 1 Smith, M., " The British Amphibians and Reptiles", 264 (1954). ment, both taken alive; one near Freshwater West 2 Deraniyagala, P. E. P., Nature, 142, 540 (1938) • on the Pembrokeshire coast, in December 1930, the • Parker, H. W., Nature, 143, 121 (1939). • Russell, F. S., Nature, 143, 206 (1939). other at Mochras Island at the north end of Cardigan • Willgohs, J. F .. Universitetet i Bergen A.rbok 1952, Naturvitens­ Bay, in November of the same year. kapelig rekke, No. 17. 3 (1953). In December 1938, an example of the other species of loggerhead recorded from Britain, Caretta caretta (Linn.), was stranded near Tenby; while in February Elminius modestus Darwin in South-West 1946 one weighing 8,180 gm. was found alive on the Scotland beach at Oxwich, Glamorgan, and is now in our THE present status of Elminiu8 modestu8 Darwin collections. in the British Isles has recently been summarized by Whereas Cm'etta caretta appears to have a fairly Crisp and Southward'. Thoy state that in 1958-59 "it wide distribution in tropical and sub-tropical waters is still relatively rare in Luce Bay and has not yet on both sides of the Atlantic (though the breeding passed the Mull of Galloway. Similarly, there has grounds are on the American side), the natural been little change in the isolated and sparso colony habitat of the smaller Cm'etta kempi is stated to be re­ in Lough [Loch] Ryan at the entrance to the Clyde stricted to the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent waters, and Sea". In an earlior publication, Crisp' states that this it is less likely to be carried to the British coasts. About Stranraer population, although dWindling in numbers, twenty British occurrences of the former, as compared has persisted since 1950 and consists largely of old with ten of the latter species, have been recorded' . animals with corroded shells. According to his classi­ Deraniyagala2 suggested that the presence of fication of abundance, raro is taken as "less than 11m .. ; loggerheads in European waters was probably due only a few isolated specimens in 1 hour's search" mainly or entirely to currents, and t,hat they might be and occasional as "1-lOO/m.'; often local and need­ of importance as current-indicators; and Parker3, ing to be searched for; rarely close cnough to breed" . discussing turtle strandings in 1938 on British coasts, Over a number of yoars we have been making an considered it "difficult not to associate their coming annual sm'vey of the density of settlement of barnacleR with the remarkably warm weather and almost in the Clyde sea area and our observations on the uninterrupted series of south-westerly gales which present status of Elminius modestus in south-west characterized late November and early December. It Scotland are not entirely in agreement with those seems probable that there has been a strong indrift quoted above. Tho following results rofer to oarly of wann surface water into the English Channel from August 1959. the south-west". Russell' suggested another possible Elminiu8 rrwdestu8 is Wlevenly di&-tributed in Luce explanation-the general extension in recent times Bay, possibly because of variations in local hydro­ of warm water farther towards the Arctic, with a graphical conditions caused by a curious development resultant northward extension of the boundaries of of shingle spits. Nevortheless, it is readily fOWld in certain animals. He instanced the capture of a many places, being most common on the western flying fish, CYP8iluTus hetertlrus, in Oslo harbour in shore; for example, on an artificial structm'e nllning 1937; and it may be noted also that a Caretta caretta across the beach neal' Sandhead adults at a density was found stranded on the Norwegian coast in of l/cm.', young at 8-10/cm.2 and spat at 5-10/crn.' December 1951 5. No loggerhead had ever before were recorded. On parts of the shore at Drummol'e been recorded from Scandinavian waters nor from the the species is common with individuals up to 210m". area east and north of Shetland. Furthermore, the species has passed the Mull of From information supplied by Mr. H. H. Lamb of Galloway since it was found at Port Logan on the the Meteorological Office, it would not appear that open coast; although not common here, small groups the warm summer of 1959 over Britain and Europe were noor enough for breeding if they roached had any connexion with the present occurrence of maturity; large adults were not found. © 1960 Nature Publishing Group.