Il6 NOTES LEPIDOPTERA AND BOTANY. 



numerous small white worms, and small green coleopterous larvce. 

 The late Mr. R. Gray once wrote to me that some Shorelarks, which 

 I had reported to him, shot on the Firth of Forth, contained only 

 small seeds ; so, birds shot at Spurn were recorded by Mr. Eagle 

 Clarke to have subsisted, during the winter 1879-80, on the seeds of 

 a marine plant. Mr. Aplin kindly sent me a Shorelark from the 

 chief Norfolk haunt of the species, in November 1886, with the 

 information that the number then present could not be estimated at 

 less than one hundred birds. 



NO TE—LE PID OPTERA . 



Pterophorus zophodactylus. — Dr. Ellis' note on Pterophoncs zophodactyltis 

 ( = lot'7vii) in the concluding pari of his ' Lepidopterous Fauna of Lancashire and 

 Cheshire' ('Naturalist,' 1890, l'>-85) is somewhat misleading. .Since the specimen 

 referred to was taken at Southport, the species has been taken in a number of 

 localities in ]5ritain, and is now scarcely considered even a rare British insect. 

 It is recorded from two Yorkshire localities — Bramham, by J. Smith, and Sand- 

 burn, York, by William Brest (see 'List of Yorkshire Lepidoptera,' p. 175), 

 though personally I have never met with it in our county. Most of my own series 

 I bred from larvre sent to me from near Dorchester, and which I fully described 

 in the 'Entomologists' Monthly Magazine' of March 1884. Last season it 

 occurred on a peculiar stretch of ground in a sort of valley on the sand-hills, two 

 miles or so north of Hunstanton, where its ordinary food -plant, Erythi\ea 

 centaurea, grew, as did also in some plenty its very pretty relative, E. piilchella, 

 and on which P. zophodaityliis is probably equally at home in its Norfolk habitat. 

 — Geo. T. BoRurrx, Huddersfield, March 8th, 1890. 



NO TE— BOTANY. 



Alford Naturalists' Society. — The report of the secretary presented to the 

 October (1889) Meeting, and printed, includes notes on the work of the summer 

 season of 1889. On Saturday afternoon, the 6th of July, a joint excursion of the 

 Grimsby, Alford, and Louth Naturalists' Societies was made to Mablethorpe. 

 On and beside the sand-hills north of the Pull-over, 31 species of Phanerogams 

 were observed in flower, besides eight plants which were not fully identified. The 

 most noteworthy were the Asparagus (Aspara^-iis officinalis Linn. ) and the Wild 

 Lettuce {Lactuca virosa Linn.). The Houndstongue{C)'«(7o-^j,f//w officinale Linn.) 

 and the Common Ragwort [Seiiecio jacohcca I^inn. ) were very plentiful, the latter 

 being said to be very scarce in the Grimsby district. No specimen o{ Eiyngium 

 maritinnim Linn, (the .Sea Holly) was noticed, although at .Spurn it quite carpets 

 the ground and is found at most places on this coast. Mr. Altoft and the 

 .Secretary, on Wednesday, the 21st of August, went to Calceby ; 62 species of 

 Phanerogamous plants were observed in flower and duly recorded, the most 

 interesting being the Wild .Sage, Wild Thyme, Common Calamint, and the Marsh 

 Cudweed [Gnaphaliion ulii^-inosum Linn.). On Wednesday, nth September, 

 Messrs. Y. Altoft, J. W. Chandler, and the Secretary spent some time in the 

 parishes of Ailby, Aby, and Belleau. The Wood Vetch ( Vicia sylvaticd) in 

 Mother- Wood, Aby, and the Saponaria officinalis (the Soapwort) in Aby Village 

 were pointed out by Mr. Chandler. Both these have been verified by 

 Mr. F. Arnold Lees and the Rev. Wm. Fowler, M.A. The former plant is 

 especially interesting, and they are both additions to the flora of the district. 

 Cardiius acaulis (the Stemless Thistle), first recorded for North Lincolnshire last 

 year, has turned up in two places — about a mile and a half apart — in Well parish 

 this year. — ^Joseph Burtt Davy, Hon. Secretary. ^_^^^ 



Naturalist, 



