CAPTURES AND FIELD REPORTS. 28 



scattered about the cupboard, but the mice had eaten or removed every 

 vestige besides, leaving nothing whatever but the pins and paper on 

 the setting-board. — F. A. Oldaker ; Parsonage House, Dorking, 

 Nov. 26th, 1903. 



Notes from the North-west. — The season for 1903 will probably 

 be remembered for some time, and all over the country, for its climatic 

 eccentricities — eccentricities even for British weather. Generally 

 speaking, the summer may be described as one of the coldest and 

 wettest, if not the coldest and wettest, on record. Nothing unusual, 

 here in Cheshire, marked the weather of January, except that it was 

 often springlike ; and February was so genial, that I do not remember 

 ever seeing such a fine display of spring flowers. Hawthorns, lilacs, 

 and laburnums were green with foliage. April 10th (Good Friday) 

 was generally voted a perfect day ; white and pink lilacs were in 

 bloom; there was even a rhododendron; and I gathered a bit of white 

 hawthorn -blossom from a hedge. Then came a frost — "a killing frost " 

 — and all these too-inuocent flowers were covered with snow on Easter 

 Monday. April continued cold and wet, with frequent frosts, almost 

 to its close. May came in upon us with sharp thunderstorms, but 

 redeemed its character somewhat after the middle of the month, so 

 that Whit Monday (the 31st) was positively warm, sunny, and cloud- 

 less. Everybody expects fine weather in " the flowery month of June," 

 and, I should say, on the whole, it is the pleasantest British month of 

 the year. But people took to overcoats on the 14th, and there was 

 such a frost on Midsummer-day that most of the brackens and birches 

 in Delamere Forest became as brown as in December. There were 

 some warm, sunny days at the end of the month, as usual; but there 

 was, altogether, more rainfall than we liked. July was a cold, wet, 

 windy month, taken on the whole. The following is from my note- 

 book for the 6th : — " I do not remember such a low July temperature 

 as to-day's ; and [ certainly never set axJmorthii, davus, myrtUli, and 

 nebulosa in such a low temperature. The wind whistles as in stormy 

 October." The same cold, wet, and windy character applied to August, 

 and was continued, more or less, through September, with the addition 

 of two degrees of frost on Sept. 14th. October was a month of almost 

 constant rain. November assumed its accustomed character — plenty 

 of moisture, either in a state of fog or rain — together with the usual 

 mild few days about the middle of the month, when Him era pennarin, 

 Hybernia defoUaria (with an occasional H. aurantiaria), Cheimatohia 

 brumata, Asteroscopus aphinx (cassinea), and Pcecilocmnpa pojnili fsiithhiWy 

 and annually make their appearance at the street-lamps. 



Under such unfavourable weather conditions it is not surprising 

 that insects have either been scarce or have come and gone unobserved. 

 The following are some of the species which, in my experience, seem 

 to deserve special mention. I saw few butterflies. There were some 

 of the tbree commonest "whites," a few Vanessa urtica:, but, apparently, 

 no V. io or V. atnlaiWt. Tliecla rubi was a common butterfly among 

 heath and birch in Delamere Forest, June 6th. Cicnonympha tijphun 

 (ilavKs) had not appeared in its accustomed haunts by June 27th, but 

 was in plenty on July 4th. Unfortunately, on that date, tbe specimens 

 were nearly all badly chipped, although fresh, owing to the boisterous 



