AUGUST 215 



handled in the morning, suspended by its borer, which 

 was firmly driven into the hard larch. 



It is uncertain how long is the interval between the 

 deposition of the egg and the emergence of the perfect 

 insect from its tunnel, but it probably amounts to two or 

 three years, or even more. There is an instance on record 

 of a house being built in this country, and fitted with 

 timber from Canada. It had been inhabited for some 

 time, when the inmates were suddenly terrified by the 

 appearance of many large hornet-like creatures. These 

 were a species of Sirex, and had already done their worst, 

 for this fly is harmless to human beings. 



In a former series of these notes I have described the 

 Galton whistle, 1 a delicate instrument whereby The senses 

 the sensibility of the human ear to high notes of Animals 

 may be tested, the varying range possessed by individuals 

 ascertained, and compared with that enjoyed by some of 

 the lower animals. As to the sense of touch, we anglers 

 hug the assurance that the pain inflicted upon a fish by 

 the hook is very trifling; indeed, there is plenty of 

 evidence to prove that the suffering caused by the mere 

 wound is nothing to the terror which impels a fish to 

 what we grimly term 'play.' Is not one of the most 

 treasured relics of a misspent life a certain double-hooked 

 ' Childers,' which a salmon in the North Tyne carried 

 away from me on October 6, 1873? I told the late 

 Duke of Northumberland, who was fishing half a mile 

 above me, that I had been broken by a good twenty- 



1 Memories of the Months, Third Series, p. 199, 



