CORESPONDENCE. 100 



Glacial Drift Deposits. — I was present at the Annual Meeting of 

 the Union, and was sorry to see so much time frittered away against the 

 good sense of the majority in discussing whether the obviously inadequate 

 subscription of one penny annually per member should be increased to a 

 sufficient sum for carrying on x'eal work by the Union ; while one of the 

 most important subjects brought before the meeting, namely, Mr. 

 Harrison's excellent suggestion, that the Societies should one and all 

 take up and investigate, under proper regulations, the subject of the 

 glacial drift deposits of the Midlands, was barely glanced at. Will Mr. 

 Harrison be kind enough, in an eai'ly number, to point out what he 

 recommends the Societies to do ? — F. L., Shrewsbury. 



Thirlmere. — Naturalists and lovers of the picturesque must be 

 grateful to the House of Loi-ds for rejecting the Bill for the alteration of 

 Thirlmere by the Manchester Corporation, although, doubtless, another 

 and stronger attempt will be made next year to force the Bill through 

 both Houses of Parliament. If so, I think some strong protest should 

 be made against the proposed scheme by all Natural History Societies. 

 If the scheme be carried out, Jttncus ^filifunnis will be destroyed in one 

 of its few Enghsh locahties, and the most secluded, yet accessible, of our 

 " hunting grounds " must be damaged most materially, not to mention 

 other and more powerful objections against an unnecessary destruction of 

 the pecuhar charms of a district round which so man}- pleasant memories 

 are entwined. — G. C. Deuce. 



Entomology. — I have often wondered how it is that so little space is 

 devoted in the " Midland Naturahst " to Entomologj'. Botany seems 

 the favourite science, but surelj' there ax-e many points in Entomology 

 which require elucidation, and I should think there must be, in various 

 parts of the Midland Counties, original observers who have something to 

 tell about the habits and peculiarities of insects of all kinds, which have 

 not yet been recorded. — M. T. L., Leicester. 



Death's He.\d Moth and the Spindle Tree. — On August Gth, 1877, 

 whilst seated on the tail board of a pleasure van driving thr>)Ugh a most 

 lovely lane leading to the ancient "Friends' Meeting House," at Jordan's 

 Wood, Buckiughamshhe, (where the philanthropist, Wm. Penn, is buried,) 

 I noticed a large larva feeding ux^on a shrub in the hedge. Jumping 

 from the van, I soon gained possession of it, a most beautifully marked 

 larva of the Death's Head Moth, ( Aclwroiitia Atropos.) The plant I had 

 never seen before, so brought a good supply home with me, and though 

 I enquired at the British Museum no one could tell me the name, and 

 by a strange coincidence Mr. Fred Smith (of the British Museum) had a 

 larva feeding upon the same plant, the name of which he had been 

 unable to obtain. I set some of the twigs in my garden, and was much 

 pleased to find it growing, and throwing out vigorous shoots and 

 flower buds, which opened just in time for me to take down to 

 Birmingham to show my old friend Mr. J. E. Bagnall ; he at once 

 recognized it as the the Spindle Tree, ( Euonymus Europaus.) I shall be 

 glad to know if other entomologists have noticed Atropos feeding upon 

 this rare plant. — Feed. Enock, 30, Eussell Road, London, N. 



Organised Work foe Scientific Societies. — Your correspondent 

 F. T. L.'s suggestion is one which, it seems to me, should commend itself 

 to the attention of all scientific societies which profess to have any 

 regard for the working out of the Natural History of the districts in which 

 they happen to be situated. Committees might be formed in each 

 society, consisting of those who were prepared, and were deemed 

 competent, to take part in the work. This would enable the workers in 

 each department of science respectively to become acquainted, and to 

 make arrangements as to the areas and the sub-divisions of the work 

 which they preferred to undertake. It would also enable workers to 

 arrive at more satisfactory conclusions. In Geology— for that is the only 



