34 Natural History Notes. 



14th January, 1898. 

 Mr James Barbour, V.P., in the Cliair. 



New Members. — Mr D. M'Jerrow, town-clerk, Lockerbie ; Mr 

 Walter Scott, Redcastle, Dalbeattie. 



Donations and Exchanges. — Sixteenth Annual Report of 

 Bureau of Ethnology; Smithsonian Reports, 1893 and 1894; 

 Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 

 Part II., 1897 ; Proceedings of Natural Science Association of 

 Staten Island. 



Exhibit. — Mrs Brown, Barnkin of Craigs, showed a stone with 

 a figure of Esculapius cut on it. The authorities at the British 

 Museum had given the opinion that its age would be about 250 

 B.C., and that it was pure Greek. Mrs Brown also showed two 

 other stones, a sardonyx and an emerald, both obtained in Syria. 



Communications. 



1. Natural History Notes. 



By Mr W. J. Maxwell, Terregles Banks. 



Having dwelt all my life in this part, except about five years, 

 and having always been fond of natural history, some of my 

 observations on that subject may interest those of like tastes, 

 though I fear many of tiiem are not new. During my boyhood 

 I collected butterflies and moths in a small way, and have ever 

 since taken much interest in that branch of animal life, althougli 

 my knowledge is small indeed compared to that of an older 

 member of this society, Mr Lennon. Many changes have taken 

 place among the butterflies. According to my recollection the 

 Peacock butterfly was one of the commonest till about 1860, 

 when it vanished suddenly and completely. I am afraid the 

 Orange Tip has also disappeared of late years or become very 

 rare. On the other hand, the Clouded Yellow butterfly, a rare 

 prize in my collecting days, appeared in large numbers about 

 1875 and the immediately following years. During the last few 

 years, it appears to me, butterflies of all kinds have become 

 scarcer. One of the pleasures to me of a trip abroad is to meet 

 attain the beautiful insects I knew here of old and also to see 

 rarer species, which I then longed to capture, such as the 



