48 Correspondence. [vo^'jcxxi. 



discoveries. . . . Self-deceived as to the importance of his own ideas, he 

 would certainly honestly believe that he had been, and still was, the victim of 

 bitter injustice, and he might defend the falsification of evidence on the fjround 

 that only in this way could justice be done, not only to himself, but to the history 

 of thought. The forgeries were either Sleeper's or by someone who shared his 

 feelings." 



For further information as to this remarkable addition to the 

 history of the idea of evolution, &c., members should consult 

 the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, presidential 

 addresses for the last and present years. — A. D. Hardy. Kew, 



2/7/14- 



The English Skylark as a Garden Pest. — It will be 

 news to many to learn that the English Skylark, /l/a?i^aari;g«sw, 

 is in some districts becoming a serious menace to market 

 gardeners. This bird was introduced into AustraUa by the 

 Royal Zoological and Acchmatization Society of Victoria in 

 1863, when a number were hberated in the vicinity of oMelbourne. 

 In 1867 eighty birds were liberated, further numbers in 1870 

 and 1872, and about one hundred in 1873-4. In 1870 a number 

 were liberated near Sydney. About Melbourne they have 

 increased considerably, and ma\^ usually be heard aliout Fisher- 

 man's Bend, the heath grounds of Brighton, &c. During 

 the last few months the Skylarks have been greatly in evidence, 

 especially in the Carrum, Mentone, and Cheltenham districts. 

 There these birds have been causing considerable annoyance 

 and loss to market gardeners and others by the manner in 

 which they have been destroying the young seedlings and plants 

 of cabbages, cauhflowers, turnips, and lettuces. Recently I 

 \isited the garden of a well-known market gardener residing 

 near Mentone, and was surprised to see numbers of these birds 

 busily engaged among the vegetable seed-beds. On examining 

 these beds I found that row after row of seeds and seedling 

 vegetable plants, also young cabbage plants that had been 

 })lanted out, had been eaten. I requested the owners to shoot a 

 few of the birds for examination purposes. Three birds were 

 shot, and on examination their crops were found to contain 

 cabbage and turnip seeds, young cabbage and radish leaves, 

 gravel, but no insects whatever. The owners of the garden 

 informed me that numbers of the birds had been destroyed by 

 means of poisoned wheat. I also examined the crops of several 

 of these, and the result was the same in every instance. Their 

 crops were full of vegetable seeds and vegetable matter, not a 

 solitary insect being found in any of tliem. If food was scarce, 

 I could understand these birds attacking vegetable crops, but at 

 the i^resent time insects are plentiful, this being an unusually 

 favourable season for them.— C. French, jun., Government 

 Entomologist. 4th June, 1914. 



