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FIELD NOTES. 



Sturgeon at Whitby. — A sturgeon was captured about 

 seven miles off Whitby by a local trawler and brought in 

 here on March 2ist ; length, 75 inches ; girth, 30 inches ; 

 weight, 68 lbs. The fish was purchased and presented to 

 the King. — F. Snowdon, Whitby. 



Wood Ant in Cumberland. — This ant [Formica rufa) is 

 very local in Cumberland, so it is a pleasure to be able to add 

 a new habitat for it. Last Jvily, at Caldbeck, I found two 

 large nests on the side of a bank in a large mixed wood under 

 Parkhead. The insects, as usual, were swarming everywhere 

 in the wood, but I saw them nowhere else in the district. 

 The only other place in Cumberland where I have seen F. rufa 

 is in the woods on the Eastern shore of Derwentwater, where 

 it constructs large nests of the Fir needles. It is also reputed 

 to occur in woods about Bassenthwaite. As it is very like 

 F. sang'uinea, I captured a few specimens and submitted 

 them to Mr. F. H. Day, who says they are undoubtedly 

 F. rufa. — Jas. Murray, 2 Balfour Road, Carlisle. 



Heronries in Yorkshire. — -An agitation is being 

 started among the anglers of Yorkshire to induce, through 

 the Fishery Board, the County Council to remove the protection 

 from the Heron. As we have, apart from Hornsea Mere, no 

 large Heronries in Yorkshire, and as they are not increasing, 

 there is no justification for this demand. An unfortunate 

 feature of present-day existence is that if any body of men 

 imagine they have a grievance against any wild creature, they 

 immediately start an agitation for its destruction, disregarding 

 the fact that their particular class is a small one, in comparison 

 to the great numbers of the population who would delight to 

 speak of this bird only, in being able to view a Heron, even 

 a passing glimpse. We hope our Protection Committee will 

 ensure that the protection is not removed. — R.F. 



Hypnum crista-castrensis Linn, near Carlisle. — This, 

 one of the most beautiful of our mosses, has long been known 

 from the Lake portion of Cumberland. Binstead, in ' The 

 Victoria History of Cumberland,' says it is not uncommon 

 in woods about Keswick, and it has also been gathered in 

 Borrowdale by Mr. W. H. Pearson [Nat., 1898, p. 118). 

 Braithwaite also gives Borrowdale as a locality. It is not 

 included in Wood's ' Contribution to a List of Cumberland 

 Mosses,' so it was an unexpected pleasure to meet with a nice 

 patch of it in a young fir wood near Little Orton, about 

 four miles west of Carlisle. It was on the ground, near the 

 edge of a damp ditch, and well shaded. There was a slight 

 admixture of the moss Plagiothcciuin undulatum B. and S. 

 and the Hepatic Aplozia crenulata Sm. — Jas. Murray, 

 2 Balfour Road, Carlisle. 



