178 Notes and Comments. 
and. that of the internal works 2,334 yards. ... On the 
assumption that there. was a wooden stockade at the top from 
behind which the men fought, the construction of the works 
at the present day would have cost £35,751 at 11d. per cubic 
yard.’ 
SUBURBAN COLLECTING. 
At a recent meeting of the Lancashire and Cheshire Entomo- 
logical Society, Mr. W. Mansfield read a paper on ‘ Suburban 
Collecting.’ Principally with the object of showing how much 
useful work can be done in the immediate neighbourhood of 
one’s own home, the author instanced many local insects which 
can still be found in the suburbs of our large towns, in the old 
gardens and parks, on the railway banks and in the old lanes 
which, in many places, still exist as vestiges of a vanished 
countryside. The melanic variations of Odontopera bidentata, 
Polia chi and Hemerophila abruptaria, are good examples of 
this phase of variation and practically confined to suburban 
localities ; while anyone with access to an old garden can 
obtain many prizes in the scarce forms of Abraxas grossulariata, 
as well as, from a scientific point of view, contribute to our 
knowledge if he cares to breed from selected parents. In ianes 
bordered with the old hawthorn hedges, the common, but 
variable tortrices, Peronea vaniegana, Tortrix ribiana and 
Teras contaminana, often absolutely swarm and furnish many 
beautiful examples for the cabinet. Among the warehouses 
of our manufacturing towns, many species are to be obtained 
in profusion, and scarcely in any other way. Many of the 
genera Ephestia, Blabophanes and Tinea are thus to be found ; 
and where electric lamps can be worked, such are a veritable 
mine of insect wealth as at Chester, where some time ago, a 
species new to science, Scoparia vafra Mey., was so captured. 
At the present time, however, such a method as collecting at 
light is practically out of the question, yet it is surprising to 
what a small light moths will sometimes be attracted. 
A PREAMBLE. 
We are asked by Mr. W. R. Butterfield, of the Hastings 
Museum, who is the editor of The Museums Journal, and who 
reminds us that he is a ‘ tike,’ to give the same prominence 
to the following letter that we gave to the remarks about the 
safety of Museums, which appeared in our April issue. We 
are not quite sure whether we are treating Mr. Butterfield 
kindly in carrying out his wishes, but at his request, we sheath 
the editorial blue pencil, and quote his missive as written. He 
says :— 
RELAXATIONS. 
‘We need in these harassing times all the reasonable relax- 
ations we can get, and if attacks upon myselffafford any 
Naturalist, 
