310 CONTRIBUTIONS XO THE ICTUyOLOOY OF BANFFSHIRE. 



when viewed directly. The belly was of a silvery white, but not with so 

 strong a metallic lustre as the cheeks. This specimen seems to be the first 

 recorded as found in the Moray Frith. 



CTo he continued.J 

 Macduff, Dec. 1854. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE NATURALIST. 



Sir, — Allow me, through the pages of The Naturalist, to express to Mr. 

 Morley, of New Basford, near Nottingham, the great and sincere pleasure 

 which I felt whilst perusing his simple, unadorned, but excellent letter. The 

 sentiments which it breathes are admirable ; and coming as they do from a 

 member of the working classes, are creditable alike to his head and heart. 

 Sincerely do I wish the little band of Naturalists at Nottingham success. In 

 the field of literature that good old town has produced some bright — ^yea, 

 fadeless flowers — for the works of " Tom Miller," and William Howitt must 

 be read, so long as a taste for rural things possesses the mind of the English 

 people, and the author of " Festus " must live in immortal song ; nor in the 

 walks of science will Hind and Lowe be forgotten ; and in the same walk, we 

 would fain hope, some latent star may be developed by the new Society, 

 destined long to shine in " the firmament of fame." Let the brave little 

 band of workers be encouraged to persevere in their honourable course, by 

 the recollection that perseverance will surmount an Alp of difficulty, and 

 that the origin of some of the most distinguished ornaments of science, who 

 still live to enjoy their well-earned honours, was not more exalted than their 

 own. Who was Gould, the author of the magnificent " Birds of Europe ? " 

 Originally, I believe, a Berkshire plough-boy, who, with a natural taste for 

 Ornithology, has manfully worked his way to his proud position. Who was 

 Weaver, the Entomologist ? Was he not a Birmingham artizan ? I beheve 

 the following to be somewhat near his history. The late lamented Dr. Shirley 

 Palmer, of Birmingham, although practicing extensively in medicine, con- 

 trived to indulge a taste for Natural Histoiy. He also strove to encourage 

 the taste in others, whenever an opportunity presented itself for so doing. 

 During the exei'cise of his profession, one day a patient called upon him, a 

 pale working man, evidently much out of health. The Doctor discovered 

 that he had a taste for Entomology, — or that, if there was any truth in the 

 science of Phrenology, he ought to have, — and, in order to divert his mind 

 from his disease, and furnish him with gentle out-door exercise, he recom- 

 mended to him the study of insects ; to go out into the fields aad take them, 



