244 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
first glass filled: these were exposed to the sun on the sieve 
which had been used to drain the wine from them, and in 
less than three hours two of them by degrees began to 
exhibit signs of life, and soon afterwards flew away. The 
Rev. Mr. Kirby says that “ many have recovered after having 
been twelve months immersed.” ‘The writer of the note 
from which I quote says he himself saw a fly pass out with 
the first glassful of wine, from a freshly opened bottle of 
champagne, which fly (one of the common species) was laid 
on the table-cloth, and in fifteen minutes afterwards was 
seen to gradually raise itself and totter across the table.— 
‘English Mechanic and World of Science, December 16. 
Quill Pens. — Many of our readers will remember the old- 
fashioned house in Cheapside, where, day after day, one or 
two men might be seen at work in the window, cutting quills 
into pens. Gradually the fact dawned upon the proprietor 
that a less expensive neighbourhood would-suit him quite as 
well, and he migrated to Newgate Street. The charm, 
however, was broken, and he sold the business with the 
lease of the premises. A curious fact in Natural History 
came to light with the change of proprietary. The place 
swarmed with spiders and webs, both of which were en- 
couraged, and the attempt to get rid of them was stoutly 
resisted by one of the old servants, who explained that the 
feathers of the quills harboured a peculiar highly destructive 
species of moth; these in turn attracted a peculiar species 
of spider which had a natural taste for young moths, and thus 
preserved the feathers.—‘ Bookseller” I enclose a paragraph 
I have cut out from one of the daily papers. I should 
imagine it was exaggerated so far as the “ peculiar species” 
was concerned, and probably only Tinea pseudospretella. 
Can you throw any light upon it in the ‘Entomologist’ ?— 
J. Cosmo Melvill, jun. ; Manchester, December 12, 1870. 
Lepidoptera in Cornwall. — During the first three weeks 
of last July, Mr. L. Cumming and I took the following 
insects in the neighbourhood of the Lizard, Cornwall. 
Among the butterflies we got no rarities, but Aglaia, gon 
and Linea were all very common. Sesia_philanthiformis 
1 took flying briskly along the flowery earth-walls, and 
settling on the thyme and sea-thrift. S. ichneumoniformis 
was common, but local, its sluggish flight contrasting strongly 
