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NOTES AND COMMENTS. 
.‘ THE NATURALIST.’* 
The whirl of sea-birds’ wings, old Flamboro’s chalk, 
Grey sands of Easington, bird-haunted Spurn, 
Whence migrant birds of passage make return, 
When seasons change, glad summer wanes, and roke 
Of dim sea-mist invades the pleasant walk 
By cliff and sand, when turgid sunsets burn 
In regal glory, and the wild waves churn 
To whitened foam, as fragments of rent oak 
Are cast upon the shingly, weed-strewn strand, 
Proof of the sea’s wild rage and restless might, 
Of tragedy that underlies all life !— 
In thought, amid such scenes, I see you stand, 
Rejoicing in old Nature’s morn and night ; 
The grandeur of her stormy moods, her frequent strife! 
MELANISM IN AMPHIDASYS BETULARIA. 
In The Entomologist for June, Mr. S. H. Leigh writes on 
‘A Biological Enquiry into the Nature of Melanism in Amphi- 
dasys betularia.’ In this he considers that the theory of ‘ pro- 
tection ’ should not be pressed too closely at present, for there 
are many well-known cases in which dark varieties of moths 
are found in localities far removed from the influence of smoke, 
and where they most probably rest upon light-coloured objects. 
For example, at Silverdale and Grange, in North Lancashire, 
the black (doubledayaria) form is prominent, where formerly 
it was very rare or absent, and where the atmosphere is as 
free from smoke and the natural objects (trees, stones, etc.), 
as clean now as at any previous time. 
WHY BOTANISTS ? 
If the average person be asked, ‘ what object have these 
botanists in view ?’ he will probably give one of the following 
answers :—I. To ‘ get something’ by it. 2. To cure this or 
that complaint ; 3. To amuse themselves. 4. To prove design 
in the works of nature. With regard to 1, it may be said that 
pecuniary loss is more likely than gain; to 2, that the result 
may be disappointing; to 3, that (in these days especially) 
other forms of amusement are more attractive ; and to 4, that 
design (in the ordinary sense) is not ‘ proved’ by the fact, that 
effects are the results of causes. We would rather agree with 
More, a philosopher of the 17th century, of whom we read in 
* A sonnet dedicated to a well-known Yorkshire naturalist, taken from 
a volume, ‘Christmas Leaves,’ recently issued to a few friends from the 
press of Mr. Edward Lamplough. 
rort July r. Q 
