34 



NOTE 02* THE MUSEUM COLLECTION 



conspicuous, be found, the problem of nationality would be satis- 

 factorily solved. 



[When riding along the road called the "Lime Boad," which 

 passes by my house near Hexham, as we approached a gate by 

 the oak wood, near the old Dilston Park wall, I was delighted 

 to see a Vanessa Antiopa rise from the road within four or five 

 yards of me, where it had been sunning itself under the stone 

 wall (or upon a stone fallen from the wall probably) in the early 

 morning sunshine. It was a brilliant day, after recent rain or 

 heavy dew, and as it rose and flew gently forward and then 

 over the wall and across a field, I admired his fine white border, 

 which looked very impressive. I have often caught them in 

 Switzerland, and have seen the willows near Domo D'Ossola 

 devoured by thousands of their caterpillars, but of course the 

 perfect insect has the buff or yellow border there. 



I have a large specimen in my collection caught near Great 

 Ayton, in Yorkshire, some years ago, and my nephew, Thomas 

 Edward Mounsey, caught a fine one in Castle Eden Dene four or 

 five years since. The specimen I saw at Dukes House (in the 

 "Lime Road"), in the first week in September, was the only 

 instance of my meeting with it in England. 



I do not know whether it is recorded that my late relation, 

 "William Backhouse, found several of them ( V. Antiopa) dead at 

 high-water mark fifty years ago at the mouth of the Tees : the 

 best specimen is I believe still in his collection, in the possession 

 of his sons, St. John's, "Wolsingham. — Edward Backhouse, Ash- 

 burne, Sunderland, January 18, 1873.] 



II. — Note on the Museum Collection of British Insects. — By Thomas 

 John Bold. 



It was the intention of the founders of the Tyneside Naturalists' 

 Eield Club that collections should be formed of all the natural 

 objects found within its district, and that such collections should 



