NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 191 



dozen. These failed to break through the silken meshes of their 

 hammocks, and so perished. The rest were fine big healthy moths of 

 both sexes, and most of them I let fly to join their compeers in what 

 I have no doubt was a welcome freedom. — J. Arkle ; Chester, April. 



A New Butterfly Net. — I have recently had the pleasure of 

 putting to practical test a very ingenious net invented and sold by 

 Rowland Ward, Ltd., 166, Piccadilly, which collectors will find of 

 great convenience. It forms an admirable walking-stick when not in 

 use, which contains the ring of the net formed of two portions that 

 can be instantly pulled out of the stick (after unscrewing the knob 

 forming the handle), and an ordinary net-bag run on the ring-canes ; 

 the ends can then be quickly fitted together, when a small stay is slipped 

 into place at the base, and a net of 5 ft. circumference is ready for use. 

 The great advantage of the invention is that the collector can always 

 carry with him a very serviceable net, which can be adjusted rapidly 

 and as quickly put out of sight, as the modest collector does not care 

 to brandish a large net before the gaze of the uninitiated. — F. W. 

 Frohawk. 



Fire in Wicken Fen. — We are indebted to Mr. E. G. J. Sparke 

 for the following cutting from the ' East Anglian Daily Times ' of 

 June 10th : — " On Sunday afternoon about twenty acres of Wicken 

 Fen were destroyed by fire, notwithstanding the efforts of a small band 

 of the villagers to prevent the lamentable destruction of natural life. 

 Wicken Fen, now some two hundred acres only in extent, is about the 

 only piece of virgin fenland left in England. . . . The fire was 

 due either to vandalism or the gross carelessness of some holiday- 

 makers, who, in common with others of the general public, have been 

 permitted in the past to picnic here. As a result of the damage, it is 

 feared the fen will now be closed." 



Epidemic among Caterpillars. — Mr. Littler {ante, p. 172) writing 

 on an epidemic among larvae, mentions " that possibly overcrowding is 

 the cause " ; anyhow, from my experience this does not seem to be the 

 case. Last year (1902) I had seventeen Melittea auriina, twenty-seven 

 Lasiocampa qiiercus, fourteen Odonestis potatoria, fourteen Gastropacha 

 quercifoUa, eleven Notodonta trepida, fifteen Ptilophora plumigera, a 

 quantity of Ocneria dispar, and Tmiiocampa populeti, and others, and 

 the results were very small, viz. : two aurinia, two qiiercus, three 

 potatoria, two quercifoUa, two trepida. This year I am rearing most of 

 the same species, and in larger quantities ; for instance, forty 0. 

 potatoria in the same cage that the fourteen were in last year ; they 

 are now nearly all full-grown, many already spun up, and this at least 

 a month earlier than last year. In all cases I am doing vastly better 

 up to the present, and have come to the conclusion that it must be 

 something to do with the weather. In a bad season one has not the 

 means of judging what the mortality is under natural conditions. — 

 Herbert H. Clarke ; Watlington House, Sidcup, Kent, June 3rd, 1903. 



Odonata and Orthoptera in 1902. — Mr. Lucas found it impracti- 

 cable at the commencement of the year to give his usual review of the 

 Odonata and Orthoptera of the past season. Notes on the two seasons 

 will, however, appear before the close of the present year. 



