178 NOTES-— ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. 



{Lyttavesicatoria), seems \worthy of special mention. This splendid species is 

 usually extremely rare in Britain, but in 1837 was found in considerable 

 numbers in Essex, Suffolk and Hampshire. About 1875 it was again taken 

 near Colchester by Mr. J. G. Grapes, and more recently it has been found 

 sparingly in Cambridgeshire by the Hon. N. Charles Rothschild and others. 

 Mr. Donisthorpe also obtained 11 specimens in the same county this year, 

 after spending a considerable time in searching for them. Near Colchester, 

 a working man who was out with his butterfly-net one summer morning chanced 

 to notice several ash trees which had been almost entirely denuded of their 

 leaves, and while he was examining into the cause he saw one of the beetles 

 flying towards him, its glittering armour resplendent in the sunshine. This 

 he netted, and presently came to another tree, upon which were a large 

 number of specimens within easy reach, and proceeded to bottle some eighty 

 of them. Unfortunately, he did not know what an important capture he had 

 made, and left most of the specimens in the bottle till they were spoiled, but 

 pinned a few and recently brought them to me to determine. Having been 

 told by the late Dr. Churchill where he had principally noticed the species in 

 1837, I visited the district, and found that scores of trees over a wide area 

 showed unmistakable signs of its ravages. To account for the amount of 

 feeding the beetles must have been present in enormous numbers, as many of 

 the trees are of considerable size, and nearly all had been extensively eaten. 

 I have frequently looked for them in the same locality myself in previous 

 years, but never had the good fortune to find them, and felt more than a 

 little disappointed when I saw that I had this year missed such an opportunity 

 as I shall probably never have again." 



BOTANY. 



Centaurea solstitialis and Triglochin palustre near Witham. — 

 Possibly the two following records may be of interest to the readers of the 

 Essex Naturalist : — 



Centaiirea{Ccilcitrapa) solstitialis. — Star-Thistle. This occurs as a casual in 

 fields of lucerne, but although I have searched such localities for many 

 years, it did not come under my notice until the August of 1901, when it was 

 found in plenty at Witham. 



Triglochin palustre was also found about the same time in the above parish. 



Edwin E. Turner, Coggeshall, Essex. 



METEOROLOGY. 



Meteorological Statistics at Colchester. — Mr. H. Goodyear, the 

 Borough Surveyor at Colchester, states that meteorological readings have been 

 taken in his office for the last 15 years, and he gives some interesting 

 statistics. The rainfall for the year igoi was only 14- 11 inches, the smallest 

 annual rainfall ever recorded in Colchester, and for that matter in any town 

 in England, and excluding towns of less than 30,000 inhabitants, Colchester 

 is the dryest town in England. 



The weather has been exceptionally bright also, as there were only 105 

 days on which rain fell ; and this is also unprecedented. 



