28 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S KECORD. 



ates from T. linearis; and Aniiiututiia davidiana, of which he has 

 examples from Southport, Deal, and near Llancillo, and which up to 

 the present time has been confounded with A. dtdia in collections. 



Mr. G. C. Champion records a variety of Telephorm thoracicus new 

 to Britain. Mr. C. J. C. Pool has recently sent him the var. snturalin 

 from Gosport, which is a form not hitherto recorded in this country. 



Mr. G. Porritt records another specimen of Xi/lopliasia zollikoferi, 

 taken on August 12th last, at Methley, between Leeds and Wal\efield, 

 by Mr, J. T. Wigin, and states that it is of the same form as the 

 specimen taken at Norwich in October last. 



We have just received the Transactions of the City of London 

 Kntoiiiolofiical and N. H. Society for the year 1909. It is much 

 belated owing mainly to the ill-health of its editors. However, as 

 usual the papers it contains are of a high order. Mersrs. E. A. 

 Cockayne, F.L.S., H. M. Edelsten, F.E.S., Dr. T. A. Chapman, 

 F.Z.S., Dr. G. G. C. Hodgson, and the Vice-President, Mr. Prout, 

 F.E.S,, contribute them. 



CHRISTMAS MDCCCCX. 



It was a late December day ; 

 The mist that on the country clung 

 Grew a fine rain : with sullen drip 

 The sodden tree-boughs hung 



Athwart the vacant forest-rides : 

 No sound of man, or beast, or bird. 

 No living sound from the earth or sky 

 The clammy silence stirred : 



It might have been a No-Man's-Land 

 In some enchanted isle afar, 

 Whence life hath passed long since, and 

 where 



But phantom vapours are : 



Yet on went we, my Friend and I, 

 By oozy path and drenching wood, 

 In a sheltered gloom at length to bide, 

 Where the mighty Beech-boles 

 stood. 



As some strange, naked monster, 



stretched 

 Along the earth between them, lay 

 One felled and prone, its smooth flank 



stained 



To mottled green and gray : 



And up and down, and in between 

 Its stark and silent limbs, behold ! 

 A Presence slowly creep and crouch ; 

 As green and gray and old 



It seemed as that grim creature's bulk : 

 Oh ! say, is it the very Sprite, 

 That dwelt in yon proud Beecben-bole, 

 Where once it stood upright? 



You scarce might tell, for all your 



prying, 

 The moving body from the dead, 

 Save that it crept, and crouched, and 



crept. 



And showed or hid a head ! 



And now we drew anigh, and now 

 A tremulous, thin sound I caught ; 

 A man's, an old man's voice ! And 

 what 



Is it he sought and sought ? 



A few poor sticks he gathers up. 

 And in his apron stores away ; 

 Small matter be it lonesome here, 

 Mid-June or winter's day : 



While, as to his own soul, he croons 

 In cracked and feeble tones the rhyme, 

 That Angels first, so the story tells, 

 Sang out at Christmas- time 



To shepherds by their flocks at night ; 

 " Goodwill and Peace on earth befall ! 

 " Peace and Goodvvill God bids us. 

 bring, 



" And His blessing to you all ! " 

 Selwyn Image. 



We much regret to say that just before going to press we received 

 the sad news of the passing away, after a long and severe illness, of 

 our respected Editor. An Obituary will appear in due course. 



