i7o 



HARD WICKE ' 5 5 CIE NCE - G SSIP. 



insects they are in the habit of attacking ; they form 

 a very interesting study. 



For pupae proceed as directed last month. Dig- 

 ging for pupae may be commenced towards the latter 

 end of this month. By beginning thus early finer 

 specimens may be procured, before the disastrous 

 effects of floods, mice, and moles have thinned the 

 ranks. From this lime until the winter is over, 

 "pupae digging" should form a part of the lepidop- 

 terist's regular routine of work. Next month I will 

 give what I find to be the best way of preserving 

 pupae in a healthy state throughout the winter. For 

 the present, however, give such of your larvae as 

 undergo subterranean pupation a pan of moss, which 

 always keep slightly damp. 



Now as to imagos : there is as much, if not more 

 to be done among these this month as last, and much 

 the same methods of capture are to be employed. 



With regard to killing these when caught, or when 

 freshly emerged from pupae, a "cyanide bottle" is 

 the best for this purpose. Cyanide of potassium has 

 no objectionable qualities about it as other poisons 

 have ; it does not take the colour of insects, and, 

 moreover, insects may be left in the bottle for a week 

 or even a fortnight, and will be just as fresh and easy 

 to "set out "as when first killed — indeed more so, 

 for cyanide has the effect of stiffening the limbs of 

 insects when first killed by it ; but if they be left in 

 the bottle for twenty-four hours they will be perfectly 

 flexible again. I would warn my readers though, of its 

 deadly nature, and great care must be taken in using it. 

 All kinds of flowers will be an attraction for 

 butterflies as well as for moths. It must not be 

 thought from this, however, that butterflies are to be 

 found only where there are flowers, for such is far 

 from being the case. Nothing is so curious as the 

 strange fancies and tastes that insects have in selecting 

 i place of resort. Often a barren, waste piece of 

 land will be literally alive with bright butterflies 

 flitting here and there over the bare ground or scanty 

 herbage, nothing of an attractive nature being ap- 

 parent to the human eye ; and yet these little crea- 

 tures have localised themselves on this spot, and will 

 not leave it, although but a short distance away 

 maybe there are lovely flowers and such conditions 

 as one would suppose inseparable from a butterfly's 

 life. This localisation of insects is a strange and 

 unaccountable feature in their natural history. 



Newly cut birch is a great attraction for lepi- 

 dopterous insects, as are the gummy exudations from 

 the same. Clover and lucerne, as already mentioned 

 are a great attraction, also fallen fruit : the family 

 Vanessa seems especially weak on this point — V. an- 

 '/■','■ may thus be sometimes surprised. Street lamps 

 are a great attraction. At early dusk, the Sphingidae 

 may be netted as they hover over the flowers. 



Erratum. — In last month's article, third para- 

 graph, second line, for E. lacustris, read E. laiicstris. 

 158 Arkwright Street, Nottingham. 



THE MICRO-FUNGI OF NORTH NOTTS. 



SHERWOOD FOREST and the neighbourhood 

 of the Dukeries is exceedingly rich in crypto- 

 gams ; and it may be interesting to some readers 

 of Science-Gossip to know that the following re- 

 presentatives of the CEcidiacei have been found there. 

 With five exceptions, I have collected the specimens 

 myself ; the exceptions are given on the authority of 

 a careful student, who prepared the flora of this 

 neighbourhood for a book on Worksop and the 

 Dukeries. They are marked by an asterisk, and will 

 doubtless turn up in due course. The pear-leaf 

 fungus, Rcestclia cancellata, was very destructive last 

 year at Dinnington, and R. cortiuta on the rowan, 

 near the Major Oak, at Pleasley, and elsewhere. R. 

 lacerta * appears on the hawthorn. Peridermium 

 Pini* is found on the Scotch fir. The wild and 

 cultivated anemone alike have their cluster-cups ; the 

 former, CEcidium leitcospermnm, being found at Work- 

 sop, the latter, (E. quadrifidum, at Budby. (E. 

 Epilobii, the willow-herb cluster-cup, is found at 

 Wellow, Worksop, and elsewhere ; as is also the 

 goat's-beard cluster-cup, (E. tragopogonis. Farmers 

 have nearly exterminated the barberry, and I have 

 hitherto failed to find it wild ; but (E. berberidis * 

 is recorded. Near Harthill I have just obtained very 

 fine specimens of the buckthorn clustercup, CE. 

 crassum, on Rkamnus catharticus, and was surprised 

 to observe how they develop, even after being 

 gathered and placed under slight pressure in a book. 

 The honeysuckle has also yielded its tribute in (E. 

 Peridymeni, and CE. calthee* is recorded in the 

 work already mentioned. The celandine and creep- 

 ing crowfoot are terribly ravaged with CE. ranun- 

 ciilaceartim, and CE. Bunii has been found this 

 spring on two or three different umbels — probably a 

 new host plant in at least one instance. This year 

 I have had the pleasure of adding CE. Valeriana- 

 cearuni to our list of local cryptogams, the specimens 

 being found on the valerian, by the canal-side, near 

 Worksop. The gooseberry fungus, CE. grossularice, 

 and nettle cluster-cup occur in various localities, such 

 as Budby, Worksop, Whitwell, Anston, and Shire- 

 brook. Three varieties of the composite cluster-cup 

 have already been turned up — namely, var. taraxaci, 

 on dandelion, near Whitwell, this year : var. Tussila- 

 gi?iis on coltsfoot, terribly profuse, and var. Lapsani 

 on nipplewort, abundant throughout the district. 

 CE. saniculcc occurs near Carlton on the sanicle, and 

 CE. viola on different species of violet all around the 

 neighbourhood. The mint-fungus, CE. menthce, is 

 found on various kinds of host-plants, especially on 

 the limestone, and is common on the cultivated as 

 well as the wild varieties of mint. CE. primultc * 

 I have sought in vain so far, but have no doubt about 

 the genuineness of the record, while thousands of 

 specimens of the garlic cluster-cup came under my 

 notice here last year, and might in all probability be 



