280 NATURE NOTES. 
heat; between noon and 1.30 I noticed a considerable 
number of plants all in full bloom. 
It is interesting to note that the flowers were on the first 
flower stems, and that in several cases as many as three or 
four flowers were upon a single stem. D. RussELL, Jun. 
SPEEDWELL ATTACKED BY GRUB. 
Last summer (1900) the Speedwell (Veronica chamedrys) 
was to a remarkable extent subject to attacks from a small 
grub, which established itself in the head of the shoots and 
formed, by the mutilation of the young leaves and their 
subsequent thickening, a roughly globular mass. The 
distorted leaves were abnormally hairy, and sometimes of a 
slightly pinkish tint. This blight, which may be caused by 
the larve of a small beetle, was very prevalent in the 
Lothians, and in the autumn I found it quite as common in 
the district of Newcastle-on-Tyne, with the addition that in 
every case where the affected Speedwell was growing near a 
hedge of hawthorn, the bushes were attacked in the same 
manner. As the grub seems only to attack the young 
boughs, it must be rather a serious pest, especially if it 
succeeds to the same extent in arresting the growth of 
other rosacee in our fruit gardens. 
The pupa have not hatched out at the time of writing 
(March), and until those collected do so, I cannot speak 
definitely of the species. BEATRICE J. WILLANS. 
FUNGI IN EDINBURGH. 
Fistulina hepatica, Fr—In the front garden of a house in 
Bruntsfield Place there grew until lately a Spanish chestnut 
tree (Custunea vulgaris, Lam.) which finally died and was 
cut down, only the stump remaining. On this tree a small 
specimen of Fistulina hepatica, Fr., was discovered ten years 
