STRAY NOTKS ON THR KLM. 61 



of a somewhat light brown colour, the points of the anterior wings with a 

 long fringe of the same colour. If any of the readers of this work can furnish 

 me with the name of it, I shall feel greatly obliged. 



Thus ends my list of Ijcpidoptera, so far as I have been able to ascertain 

 the names. When I shall be able to make out the names of what I have 

 remaining, and what I may collect, I shall be most happy to communicate 

 them through the pages of "The Naturalist." 



Exeter, November 9th., 1853. 



STRAY NOTES ON THE ELM. 



BY JOHN 1>IX0N, ESQ. 



Some eight or ten years ago, a violent gale of wind did considerable damage 

 in this neighbourhood; its fury being most apparent in some parts of the woody 

 districts about Temple Newsam and Methley, where many a noble tree that 

 had long withstood the wintry blasts, was that day laid prostrate, or reduced 

 to a complete wreck. One victim to this elementary strife at Methley, was 

 the skeleton of a huge elm, some fifteen feet in circumference at the base; 

 time had long ago shorn it of all verdure, and nothing but its scathed trunk 

 remained, from which a few large branches spread out in curious contortions, 

 making a fit subject for the pencil of the passing artist. Several large fungi 

 had made their appearance on it, sure evidence of a stealthy decay, yet, 

 for all this, few would have thought its downfall so nigh at hand. In falling 

 it broke into several pieces, when the bole was found to be quite rotten, 

 furnishing the lads with a plentiful supply of "touchwood," as we call it in 

 these parts. But the most curious circumstance connected with it arose from 

 the discovery of a singularly shaped object in the very heart of the bole. 

 The best guide to its shape, unaccompanied by a drawing, and on a reduced 

 scale, would be found in the common cup moss. Its discovery, as a matter 

 of course, raised sundry rustic, philosophic conjectures, consequently the first 

 reports were much at variance, one setting it down as a "wooden trumpet," 

 while another strenuously averred it to be some sort of an "old-fashioned 

 cocked-hat;" so that in the midst of much disputation respecting its origin, 

 it soon formed a good "cock-and-bull" story. A friend of mine procured this 

 wooden wonder and presented it to me. The substance resembles close-grained 

 oak, but somewhat harder; I have seen similar objects before, but being at 

 a loss with respect to their origin, deem it worth notice in the valuable pages 

 of "The Naturalist," the circulation of which I am glad to find is progressing. 



A few years ago the road entering Leeds at Sheepscar, was beautifully 

 ornamented with several noble elms, one of which was fourteen feet in circum- 

 ference; they were of great height and most beautifully proportioned, one 

 might have travelled miles to find their equals. They seem to have been 

 regarded with a favourable eye more than a hundred years ago, for we find 



