144 NOTES ORIGINAt. AND SELFXTED. 



brace of jack were taken. The weight of these is not given, but they would 

 probably be of about the same average as the 941^ brace killed in 1856-7— total 

 weight, 4o6lbs. 



"On July 25th, 1861, there is an entrv showing that Mr. T. Howse and 

 his sons caught twenty-two brace of perch, four brace of ack, and two dozen 

 gudgeon, in the lower water of the fishery. That must have been a red letter 

 day indeed ! The gudgeon have almost entirely disappeared from that part 

 of the Lea (and many another part also), and there is no longer such perch 

 fishing as was enjoyed during the years previous to 1861. Here are entries 

 showing that Mr. T. Howse and son caught nineteen brace of perch, and Mr 

 Munt and Mr. McRae sixty-one and a half brace; Mr. Robert Wright (one of 

 the old brotherhood who have gone to their rest) and Mr. Charles Briand (who 

 is still an active member of several angling societies) are also entered as 

 captors of a big bag of perch in i860. There are frequent entries, indeed, 

 showing very excellent perch fishing; Mr. Henry Wix, for example, had, in 

 1859, twenty perch weighing i6lbs., and seven chub weighing gibs., in Amwell 

 Pond ; and there are records, one after another, of sixty brace and forty-two 

 brace of perch, eighteen dozen gudgeon, and so on. These, alas, are feats of 

 the past. The common weight of the big trout appears to be 61b., especially 

 those caught at Ware Mill. The carp is mentioned once, the rudd only twice, 

 and the only record of the tench is that of one of albs. 6oz in March, 1861, 

 with the note ' the first tench ever known to be taken at the fishery.' " 



INSECT A . 



Sirex gigas at Loughton. — Our Treasurer, Mr. W C. Waller, sent up 

 for the Museum a fine female specimen of Sn-tX gi§as which has been caught 

 in his garden at Loughton on July gth, 1899 (see note in last volume (vol. x.) 

 at page i8g). 



Acidalia rusticata at Shoeburyness, Essex -~I have taken a few 

 specimens o{ Acidalia rusticata this season at Shoeburyness. Is there any early 

 record of the occurrence of this species in Essex ? But for my having seen two 

 examples in a small collection formed by a beginner it's more than likely that 

 I should not have captured this insect, as the spot where it occurs is on 

 Government ground from which the public is excluded. The moth seems to 

 be exceedingl}- local, and it is, therefore, a matter for congratulation that it 

 is so effectually protected. — F. G. Whittle, Southend, August, 1899. 



Calymnia pyraliua and Cucullia asteris near Southend. — At the end 

 of May, a friend was kind enough to allow me to accompany him to a locality 

 some few miles north-west of Southend (I cannot be more precise), where 

 larvae of Thechi w-album and Calymnia pyralina might be expected to occur 

 We did not see T. w-album, but sundry Calymnia larvae were beaten from 

 which I reared, about the middle of July, three C. affinis and three C. pyralina. 

 I found yesterday a larvae of Cucullia asteris on a plant of Aster tripulium at 

 Great Wakering. — F G. Whittle, Southend, September 18th, 1899. 



Glow-worm and Frog. — On the evening of September 2nd as my 

 brother and I were passing along the Epping New Road, near "Kates 

 Cellar," Broom Hill, we saw a glow-worm's tiny lamp shining on a bank by 

 the wayside. As we got off our cycles for a nearer view, the spark suddenly 

 disappeared, and on turning the light of a lantern on to the spot we were just 



