APRIL 281 



summer, with the largest, finest blooms, both for colour 

 and form, I have ever seen. It had been brought forward, 

 of course, in considerable heat. Oleanders are now to be 

 had of all colours, from the deepest red to palest pink and 

 pure white. They strike easier in summer if the stalks of 

 the cuttings are stuck in water for a few days before they 

 are planted. 



I have lately been able to procure a book called ' The 

 Insects of Great Britain,' by W. Lewin, 1795 an 

 ambitious and comprehensive title indeed, and only one 

 volume of the series ever appeared. But Mr. Lewin 

 began with the most attractive and showy of the insects, 

 viz. butterflies. His plates are most beautiful and 

 careful, even for that excellent period of hand-coloured 

 illustration. I suppose that everyone knows the easy 

 way to distinguish between butterflies and moths. In 

 butterflies the antennae, or what children call * horns,' are 

 always knobbed, and in moths they are the same thick- 

 ness to the end. When I was in Florence I saw an old 

 fireplace decorated with most lovely tiles. I am not 

 knowing enough to say if they were Dutch or Italian, but 

 they were very pretty. There were lines, brown and yellow, 

 round each tile, the inner lines cutting off the corners ; then 

 a dainty little wreath of Olive branches and inside it a 

 butterfly, the butterfly on every tile being different. The 

 ground-colour of the tile was a creamy-white. This book 

 would render the re-making of such tiles comparatively 

 easy. 



Last summer (1898) a little book appeared called 

 'Where Wild Birds Sing/ by James E. Whiting, 

 published by Sydney C. Mayle, 70 High Street, Hamp- 

 stead. The writer is a real Nature lover. The motto of 

 the book is from a speech by Gladstone, who said : I 

 think the neglect of natural history was the grossest 

 defect of our old system of training for the young ; and, 



