34 2 Notes and Comments. 



the records will lind a homogeneity which greatly facilitates 

 his labours, and the cumulative value increases more rapidly 

 year by year. We cannot be too grateful for the perspicacity 

 of him by whom the foundations of this ever-rising edifice were 

 so well and truly laid.' The report certainly contains a 

 wonderfully compact record of various observations made 

 during the year. We are permitted to reproduce an interesting 

 map which appears in the report, as well as a valuable table 

 giving particulars of the dates of flowering plants. 



THE ANTLER MOTH IN YORKSHIRE. 



Mr. J. W. Carter writes : — ' During the first week of 

 September, I spent a few days at Malham, and had not been 

 long in the village before I was told of the " great plague of 

 caterpillars " they had experienced. I made enquiries of 

 some of the farmers ; Mr. Swinbank informed me that on their 

 farm they had no fewer than So acres of grass-land on the 

 Fells so badly infested that they had to remove all their cattle 

 and sheep on to the land at a lower elevation — which was quite 

 clear of the pest. Another farmer, less fortunate, had the 

 whole of the land occupied by him so badly infested that he 

 had to sell out his entire stock of cattle and sheep. The pretty 

 moth was still on the wing during my visit.' We take this 

 opportunity of reproducing the illustration referred to on page 

 308 of The Naturalist for October. 



THE GREAT AUK. 



In The Museums Journal for October, Mr. W. H. Mullens 

 has an interesting paper on W. Bullock's London Museum. 

 From this we gather — ' When Mr. Bullock was at the Orkney 

 Islands, he had the pleasure of chasing a male of this species 

 for several hours, in a six-oared boat ; but without being able 

 to kill him, for though Mr. B. and his companions frequently 

 got near him, so expert was the bird in its natural element 

 that it appeared impossible to shoot him. The rapidity with 

 which he pursued his course under water was almost incredible. 

 The bird was, however, killed in the following year and came 

 into Bullock's possession under the following circumstances, 

 as set out by him on page 75 of the sixteenth edition of the 

 Companion, 1814 : — 'The Great Auk or northern penguin 

 (Alca impennis). — Of this rare and noble bird we have no 

 account of any having been killed on the shores of Britain, 

 except this specimen, for upwards of a hundred years ; it was 

 taken at Papa Westray, in Orkney, to the rocks of which it 

 had resorted for several years, in the summer of 1813, and was 

 finely preserved and sent to me by Miss Trail, of that island, 

 a lady to whom I am under considerable obligations for pro- 

 curing me many valuable and rare subjects from the northern 

 isles, and much interesting information respecting their habits. 



Naturalist 



