96 



sudden cessation in their numbers, and when, and what direction was the 

 wind at the time ? These and other questions, if duly answered, would 

 be worth all the records put together of the places where this butterfly 

 has been noticed. — Ens. 



Chalk Sections. — As a ready mode of making chalk sections thin 

 enough to be translucent, I cut a chalk section about 50 of an inch. 

 Treat it with dilute acid, by preference, dilute acetic. This is to remove 

 all loose chalk. AVash and dry it thoroughly. Cement to a glass slip 

 with Canada Balsam. Pare It down with a sharp knife and then 

 develop it like a photographic plate with dilute acid and a camel's-hair 

 brush until it appears translucent. It may then be finished in the usual 

 way with Canada Balsam and a cover glass. — McD. 



Change of Title. — There is always some risk attached to a change 

 of name ; but it has been forced upon the Dover Field Club, through 

 their title having been adopted by a betting agency, and the consequent 

 disagreeables which have arisen from the confusion. Our Dover friends 

 have availed themselves of the opportunity to further enlarge the scope 

 of their enquiries, and for the future the club will be known as the 

 Dover Natural History and Antiquarian Society. 



Perennial Wasp's I^est. — In part II we mentioned a wasp's nest 

 which had been occupied for three years in succession by presumably 

 members of the same colony; upon visiting the spot in 1891 no trace of 

 it was visible, but this is not surprising as the bank had been smoothed 

 down and returfed. The only wonder is that it was allowed to remain 

 so long undisturbed, being situated close to an orchard and cottage 

 fronting upon a public highway, yet we feel sorry we cannot carry the 

 observations any further. — S.W. 



British Sardines. — In January, 1892, considerable numbers of 

 sprats netted close to the pier head were hawked about the streets of 

 Dover. About twenty of the skeletons were handed me for extracting 

 the otoliths, and whilst doing so I noticed that t^vo of the skulls were 

 inordinately long, and the otoliths from them quite different from the 

 others. Comparing them with some I had obtained previously from 

 Mediterranean sardines, I found them to agree in every particular. 

 Unfortunately the partakers had not noticed any differences between the 

 fishes, so I am unable to say whether a mixed haul of sardines and 

 sprats had been taken by the fishermen, or whether a few strays from 

 the south had joined the sprat shoal. From the fact that a Dover sprat 

 is generally of much larger size in January than were these specimens, 

 I am inclined to think the shoal was passing from an unusual direction 

 and had been joined by some of the rarer species Mr Horsnaill who 

 has studied the fishes of our rock pools, tells me he recognized a 

 difference between individual fishes from the hauls in January, but the 

 thought of sardines did not at the moment occur to him and he omitted 

 to examine them more closely. 



The true sardine is so rare in our waters that by many ichthyologists 

 it is excluded from the British Lists. — S. Webb. 



r^y- 



15 BAY. 95 



