September, 1920] 



Thk Canadian Field-Naturalist 



119 



tion and brings in "telaethesia," which he defines as 

 "power of vision passing the limits of time and 

 space." One can readily see what a very useful 

 power this would be, a power more wonderful 

 than all the gifts of prophecy and fairy wands, but 

 one must be allowed to express a slight doubt as to 

 its existence. 



If birds are possessed of this miraculous power 

 it is rather hard to account for the fact of their 

 becoming lost in a fog when migrating. A fog 

 certainly might cause them to lose direction if they 

 depended on the sense of sight, but it should have 

 no influence on a purely mental attribute, such as 

 "telaethesia" is assumed to be. 



In conclusion I would suggest that if the guid- 

 ing of migration by the sense of sight is to be 

 regarded as one of "the fairy-tales of science" that 

 Mr. Mousley's theory may be regarded as "fairy- 

 talaethesia." 



A Brooker Klucfl 



A Doped Butterfly? — Early in September 

 last year in woods on the shore of Lake Missanog, 

 Frontenac County, Ontario, I came across a patch 

 of very large specimens of the poisonous Fly Agaric, 

 Amanita muscaria. On the pileus of one of the 

 specimens was a Camberwell Beauty, Euvanessa 

 antiopa. It did not take flight when I touched it but 

 merely wobbled weakly from side to side. I picked 

 it up and let it go in the air, but it fell to the ground 

 with closed wings. I then placed it on the trunk 

 of a tree, to which it clung for a few minutes, and 

 then fluttered back to the same fungus, where I left 

 it. 



It would seem as if this butterfly had been pois- 

 ined by muscarine, the extremely toxic alkaloid 

 found in Amanita muscaria, though no absolute 

 conclusion on this point can be drawn from this single 

 instance. Its behaviour in returning to its poisonous 

 repast is interesting, but here again no definite con- 

 clusions can be drawn from a single instance. I 

 should be glad to hear of any other observations on 

 the relations of insects to this fungus. 



A. Brooker Kluch. 



MoRCHELLA BISPORA in CANADA. Mr. W. S. 

 Odell's note in a recent number of 7^/jc Canadian 

 Field-Naturalist, apparently constitutes the first pub- 

 lished record of the finding of M. hispora. The 

 Division of Botany, Central Experimental Farm, 

 some years ago (1912) studied some Morels col- 

 lected by Mr. J. W. Eastham, B.Sc, near Billings 

 Bridge; among them Mr. Eastham showed me 

 Morchella hispora, and I well remember the charac- 



teristic ascus containing the two large hyaline 

 spores. There is no doubt in my mind that th'. 

 species then examined is the same as that recorded 

 by Mr. Odell. 



H. T. Gussow. 



Morchella bispora in Canada. — I was inter- 

 ested in the article "A Rare Fungus New to 

 Canada," by Mr. W. S. Odell in the January num- 

 ber of The Canadian Field -Naturalist in which he 

 records Morchella hispora from Chelsea, Quebec, 

 and from the vicinity of Ottawa, but I beg to point 

 out that his statement that "There is no record of 

 its having been previously found in Canada," re- 

 quires modification. In the Ontario Natural Science 

 Bulletin, No. 6, 1910, I first recorded this species 

 from Canada and I reproduce below the original 

 note: — 



' Morchella hispora is a very common fungus on 

 the Bruce Peninsula, Ontario. It grows abundantly 

 in damp woods, appearing in May, and lasting till 

 early in June. Some of the sporophores attain a 

 very large size. As an edible species it ranks high, 

 as it is tender and of excellent flavour. Dr. Dear- 

 ness informs me that this species has not been pre- 

 viously recorded from Canada." 



The fact that records of the occurrence of spe- 

 cies of plants and animals in Canada can be easily 

 overlooked shows the need of some central author- 

 ity for each group. Such an authority should not 

 be a worker in the group but should be willing to 

 receive and keep on file all records of the distribu- 

 tion of species in his group. I would suggest that 

 the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club try and make 

 such arrangements for as many groups as possible, 

 and publish the names of the authorities, so that 

 anyone wishing information on the distribution of 

 species in a certain group can appeal to the proper 

 authority. In this connection I should be extremely 

 glad to receive records of all species of Cyanophy- 

 ceae (Blue-green Algae), Chlorophyceae (Green 

 Algae) and fresh-water Protozoa of Canada. 



A. Brooker Kluch. 



Rusty blackbirds wintering in alberta. — 

 A flock of eleven Rusty Blackbirds have remained 

 in Camrose, Alberta, throughout the past winter. 

 The winter of 1919 and 1920 has been as severe, 

 and perhaps longer than any since the settlement of 

 this portion of the west. The ground was frozen 

 several inches deep by October 10th, and on the 

 18th of that month eight inches of snow covered the 

 ground. On November 6th the thermometer regis- 

 tered 24 below zero, on which day a flock of 

 Evening Grosbeaks began their residence in Cam- 



