176 Retrospective Criticism. 



fig. 122., requires no query, and is represented, or some other 

 variety extremely like it, in Ernst's Pap. d' Europe, vol.i. tab.l 3. 

 fig. 16. e. and 16. f." The above remarks of my friend, 

 Mr. Haworth, are, I think, worthy of a place in the Re- 

 trospective Criticism of one of your future Numbers. Yours, 

 &c. — W. T. Bree. Allesley Rectory, Bee. 20. 1832. 



Pontic Chariclez, seen on the Wing, Feb. 10. 1831. — Mr. 

 Bree says (p. 88.) : — "I never knew an instance of Pontia 

 Chariclea appearing so early (Feb. 10.) in the season. Might 

 not Sigma probably have mistaken the female of Gonepteryx 

 rhamni, for F. Chariclea ? Why, also, is P. Chariclea styled 

 the early white butterfly, when there are at least two other 

 species, viz., P. rapae and P. napi, which invariably appear 

 before it?" It is possible that I might have mistaken the 

 species of Pontia for some others, as it was on the wing, but 

 I think it could not have been P. rapae, from its size; and am 

 nearly certain, from the whiteness of its plumage, it was not 

 P. napi ; its earliness precluded (as I think) its being P. 

 brassiest? ; and the form of its wings prevented my mistaking 

 it for Gonepteryx rhamni, as well as the colour, which is 

 different, even in the female, to any of the white butterflies. 

 Mr. Rennie, or his authority, Mr. Stepl ins, must bear the 

 blame, if any there be, of P. Chariclea being designated 

 " early" white butterfly, as (in Vol. II. p. 226.) he has so 

 called it, and this is the only answer I can give to the latter 

 of Mr. Bree's queries. Supposing, however, I was correct 

 as to the kind of butterfly, it will now fairly have earned the 

 distinction of " early white." I ought, perhaps, to say, 

 though the day was in February, as to temperature it was 

 really an April day, the thermometer having ranged the day 

 before from 50° to 59°, and this day (10th) from 48° to 58°; 

 thus inviting the appearance of many other insects. 



Vanessa Vo caught, Jan. 5. 1833- Mr. Bree remarks, also, 

 that he has seen " Vanessa urtica? so early as January 8th 

 (1805), in the Isle of Wight." Although our neighbourhood 

 is by no means warm in the winter, yet on the fifth of the 

 present month (Jan. 1833) a boy brought me a specimen of 

 Vanessa Vo, which he had caught in the town, and which I 

 should think is a very unusual occurrence. 



In the last sentence of my communication in Vol. V. p. 753. 

 " 1800," is a misprint for " 1830." — Sigma. Saffron Walclen, 

 Jan. 21. 1833. 



The poisonous Properties of the Seeds of the Laburnum (Cy- 

 tisus ^Laburnum), (p. 74.) — As to the poisonous properties of 

 seeds of the laburnum, I recollect that when I was a boy, 

 some one in the family had been told that the pods of the 



