16 COEN AND GRASS. 



grubs sent accompanying showed them to be without doubt those of 

 the Antler Moth. 



In a letter to the ' Scottish Farmer,' Glasgow, written on July 4th, 

 Prof. Wallace begins with the following remark, which is of interest 

 geographically, as showing by the altitude that in this case certainly 

 the attack might very correctly be described as affecting the " up- 

 lands": — "The Dumfriesshire Antiquarian Society had an excursion 

 to Leadhills and the neighbourhood last Saturday, and amongst the 

 trophies collected by the enthusiastic naturalists were a number of 

 grubs of the Antler Moth, or Grass Moth, the Chamas cjraminis, Linn." 

 On turning to Keith Johnston's ' General Gazetteer,' I find the following 

 information : — " Leadhills, a mining village, and the highest in Scot- 

 land ; county of and 18 miles south of Lanark, parish of Crawford, in a 

 bleak district. Elevation, 1323 ft. above the sea. Mean temp, of 

 year, 44-1°; winter, 32-1°; summer, 55-7° Fahr."* 



The next communication was sent me from the more southerly 

 locality of Tanlawhill, Langholm, in the south-east of Dumfriesshire, 

 on July 2nd, by Mr. W. Gray ; and this, together with the other short 

 letters with which I was favoured by Mr. Gray will be found to be of 

 much interest, in opening up the subject of parasitic infestation of 

 various kinds being present to such a degree in the Antler Moth cater- 

 pillars as in all reasonable probability greatly to lessen amount of 

 recurrence of this (the xintler Moth) attack. 



From specimens forwarded in illustration of Mr, Gray's notes, we 

 have observation of presence of a great deal of Nematoid, or Thread- 

 worm, internal infestation. This, so far as shown by specimens sent of 

 a species of Mermis ; also presence of the severely infectious disease well 

 known in Silkworm caterpillars as " flacherie," and (in the chrysalids) of 

 bacteria, not yet identified ; also, partly from Mr. Gray's specimens 

 and partly from another source, we find the presence of maggots of the 

 parasitic Tachinid flies. Other kinds of disease or parasitic infestation 

 were present, which I notice, together with the above, further on in 

 such detail as we have, under the heading " parasites" ; but I first give 

 Mr. Gray's communication, beginning on July 2nd, as follows : — 



" I send you by same post as this some grubs which are doing 

 great damage to grass in this district. On cutting them open I found 

 three or four Hair-worms in them, and in two cases maggots." . . . 

 " Out of a hundred grubs I had, I only got three chrysalids," On the 

 13th of July Mr. Gray sent me some more specimens, with the obser- 

 vation, " I have only got a few of the grubs, which I send you, also two 

 maggots, I am sorry that I did not get your address sooner, as the 

 shepherds say that they " (the caterpillars of the C. graminis) "seemed 



* In the above quotation I have given words signified by contractions or single 

 letters in the original at length for the sake of clearness. 



