360 Notes and Comments, 



nearly forty pages, and particularly appeals to northern 

 naturalists. It contains much information in reference to 

 St. Cuthbert's beads {Encrinites) , St. Peter's lingers and 

 thunderbolts {Belemnites), Devil's toe-nails {Gryphceas, not 

 ' graphites ') and snakestones. He also refers to horses' or 

 asses' feet {Hippopodium), seraphims {Pterygotus), giant's 

 teeth and bones (mammoth), bones of Angels (saurian re- 

 mains) ; celestial cannon balls (iron pyrites), etc. 



A pheasant's meal 

 In The Scottish Naturalist for November, Mr. P. H. Grim- 

 shaw gives the following list of contents of a single crop of a 

 pheasant shot in Argyllshire : — Diptera, Bihio lepidus, 2286 

 specimens, Pollenia riidis, i ; the Heather Beetle {Lochmaea 

 suturalis) 508 ; Ant {Myrmica rubra) 2 ; Grasshopper {Sten- 

 obothrus, sp.) i ; Mollusca {Planorbis, sp.) 2, a total of 2,800 

 specimens, and these figures without counting the legs, heads, 

 and other fragments. In addition were ' Numerous tubers of 

 Lesser Celendine, one seed-capsule of Mouse-Ear Chickweed, 

 fragments of mosses and grasses, small stem with leaves of 

 Heath Bed-straw, tiny shoot of heather, many fragments of 

 leaves of the Bulbous Crowfoot, and a few leaflets of the 

 Cuckoo-flower. It seems a pity that the poor bird was shot or 

 it might have made a really respectable meal. Mr. Grim- 

 shaw concludes on the evidence of the above figures, ' I think 

 we may fairly claim that the Pheasant is likely to be of use in 

 the checking of the ravages caused by the heather beetle, and 

 may be classed with the Blackcock as a beneficial visitor to 

 our grouse moors.' 



: o : 



A Museum is suggested for Burton-on-Trent. 



The Rev. E. A. Woodruffe Peacock has been elected a Fellow of the 

 Entomological Society. 



The natural history collections of the late W. F. Webb, have been 

 presented to the Mansfield Museum, by Miss Webb. 



There is only one item under ' Mollusca,' in Quaritch's recent Cata- 

 logue of Zoological etc., works, and it is Huxley's ' The Crayfish ' ! 



Through the kindness of Mr. J. P. Thomasson, the Bolton Museum 

 now possesses the collections of mollusca and lepidoptera formed by the 

 late J. W. Baldwin. 



In a recent issue of a ' popular ' scientific magazine, the following 

 remarkable ' description ' is given of the Greenland Falcon : — ' White and 

 black ; larger than a crow.' 



A prize has been awarded to D. H. Peacock, of Trinity College, for his 

 investigations on Hydroxyhydrindenehydrazine and 1:2: 4 — Triketo- 

 pentamethylene. He seems to have earned it. 



Sir Charles Hercules Read, LL.D., the President of the Society of 

 Antiquaries, and the president-elect of the South-Eastern Union of Scien- 

 tific Societies, recently welcomed the members of the l^nion to the Rooms 

 of the Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House. Tickets were 1/6 each, 

 ' to include the cost of tea, printing, stationery and postage, etc' We 

 wonder what the ' etc ' covered. 



Naturalist, 



