24 FEBRUARY. 



Bryophila perla feeds on the silvery lichen on old 

 walls. 



Chora Lichenaria feeds on lichen on trunks of oaks. 



All the species of the genus " Crambus" and the 

 genus ll Eudorea" together with the following species 

 of Tineince — 



Gelechia desertella > Moss on the sand-hills, Che- 

 „ mundella i shire. 



-? . \ Moss on old walls. 

 „ domestica ) 



„ tenebrella . . Moss. 



I think these species will be sufficient to show the 

 tyro the folly of making any such sweeping assertion 

 as the foregoing, as it is extremely probable that there 

 is no plant growing upon the earth that does not fur- 

 nish sustenance to some animal or other at some period 

 of its existence, either in its perfect or transition state. 



And I would here caution the tyro against dog- 

 matism. A dogmatic spirit in science shows the igno- 

 rance and shallowness of attainments in the man who 

 possesses it in the most striking light ; it is not because 

 you see a certain fact or series of facts in a certain light 

 that everybody else is to see them so likewise ; and it 

 is the height of injustice and presumption for any man 

 to set his own ideas up as a standard, and quarrel with 

 those who presume to differ from them, implying, 

 " when I ope my mouth let no dog bark." 



And now, gentle reader, let us take a short trip 

 together, and for a while leave the great Babel with all 

 its stir and hubbub, its glitter and noise, behind us, 

 and speed on our way to Plumstead. If we obtain 

 a ticket at the Eastern Counties Railway at Shore- 



