Saturday, August 17th, and having seen the family impedimenta 

 safely housed, went for a walk along the western parades. It was a 

 very fine day, after somewhat showery weather just previously to my 

 arrival, and it was probably about five o'clock when I started. 

 I had not gone far when I caught sight of ^. mai-ginipunctata resting 

 on the stones in its accustomed manner, and having boxed two or 

 three of them, I searched one of the patches of wall over which the 

 ivy had completely grown ; at once 1 noticed a moth sitting on one 

 of the ivy leaves, thought it a most conspicuous object, boxed it, and 

 believing that I saw another sitting on another leaf near by, attempted 

 to box it also. To do so I put the lid of the pill-box gently beneath 

 the leaf, and putting the body of the box above it, drew them gently 

 forward so as to scrape the moth off the leaf into the box. On 

 looking into the box through its glass bottom I was surprised to find 

 no moth there, and still more so to see, as I thought, the moth still 

 sitting on the leaf. On a close examination, however, I found the 

 supposed moth to be really a patch of grey mud, and that there were 

 a very great many similar patches on the ivy leaves, all much alike in 

 shape, and invariably at the tips of the leaves. It was, indeed, a 

 difficult matter to single out a moth among the numberless mud 

 patches, but when one's eye did light upon a veritable moth, it also 

 was sure to be near the tip of a leaf. In a former note of finding 

 the species resting on the ivy leaves, made some years previously, I 

 find it is there stated that the weather had been showery. The 

 phenomenon so interested me that I determined to closely investigate 

 it. As I have previously mentioned, I believe, the ivy plants grow 

 on the rough stone walls that hold up the earth banks on which the 

 tamarisk bushes flourish. The soil of which the banks are composed 

 is largely chalk ; after dry weather a sudden shower washes the loose, 

 dusty surface of the soil down over the walls and the ivy. The shape 

 of the ivy leaves is such that they collect a quantity of this muddy 

 liquid near their tips, and the first gentle breeze or gleam of sunshine 

 dries it, and there it remains until again converted into dust by 

 excessive drying and blown away by the breeze or washed away 

 by heavy rain. It appears to be only in showery weather that 

 the patches are formed, heavy or continuous rain washing the 

 leaves clean; hence the phenomenon is not of very frequent occur- 

 rence, but the explanation appeared to be complete. 



