596 



Remarks on the Spring of 1832, 



Redstart sang - - - - 



Lesser pettychaps (Sjlvia hippolais?) sang - 

 Swallow (^irundo rustica) appeared! 

 Stellaria JZblostea flowered J- 



Blackthorn flowered J 



Pontia rapae appeared - - - 



Blackcap sang - - - 



Cardamine pratensis flowered 

 iStilla nutans flowered - - - 



Martin (^irundo urbica) appeared 

 Cuckoo sang _ . - _ 



Swifts appeared - - 



Hipparchia MegaeVa appeared 



Mgeria appeared 

 Least dragon fly (Libellula vfrgo) appeared 

 Apple tree flowered 

 Veronica ChamaeMrys flowered 

 Nightingale sang - - - 



Hawthorn flowered 



Fieldfares last seen - - - 



P6nti« cardamines appeared 

 Polyommatus Argiolus appeared 

 Pontia brassicae appeared 

 Panorpa communis appeared 

 Cockchafer appeared - - - 



Ermine moth ( J56mbyx menthrastri) appeared 

 iScarabae'us auratus appeared 

 Libellula depressa appeared 

 iS'carabae'us hortlcola appeared 



The last named insect is considered exceedingly destructive in gardens. 

 Being on a visit in Staffordshire, in themonth of June, I observed whole beds 

 of strawberries (not hautboys) likely to prove nearly barren, though they had 

 flowered copiously, and the season was favourable for a crop. I was in- 

 formed that the failure was owing to the fernshaws (the provincial name for 

 the beetle), which are accused of eating the anthers and interior parts of 

 the blossom. In the same garden my attention was also called to the 

 ravages committed by this depredator on the apples, by gnawing holes in 

 the young fruit ; which consequently dies and falls off", or at least becomes 

 much blemished. I was assured that the fernshaws had been detected in 

 the fact ; and I am rather disposed to think that the charge in both in- 

 stances is well founded. I had long been aware of the insect's partiality for 

 rosebuds and blossoms, which it greedily devours. In the north of JEng- 

 land, where it is much used as a killing bait for trout, the insect is commonly 

 known by the name of " bracken-clock,'* a name of the same import with 

 the Staffordshire term " femshaw," each signifying " fern-beetle." 



} 



■ The Fieldfare feeds on the Berries of Ivy, So does the blackbird, and so 

 do other species of the thrush family, and probably birds of other families 

 as well. The dryish and somewhat mealy pulp of the ivy berry seems to be 

 the only part of it which affords them nutriment, as the skins and seeds of 

 the berries may be found voided on the surface of the grass, soil, and wall 

 tops, which may chance to be in the neighbourhood of the berry-bearing 

 plants of ivy. The naked seeds of ivy, enlarged by the moisture of a bird's 

 body, considerably resemble swollen grains of wheat; and the accurate 



