FIELD MEETINGS FOR I9IO 201 



also peculiar to the north, growing in such plenty at Jesmond 

 Dene. The woods also yielded spikes of arum with the 

 spathes filled with midges, occupied, unknown to themselves, 

 in the work of fertilisation, and a specimen of vetch with an 

 ant actually engaged in investigating the toothed stipules for 

 the honey supposed to be furnished for its benefit and to 

 prevent its going further and rifling the flower where its 

 presence is not desired. A series of specimens of coltsfoot 

 were also obtained, illustrating its erect habit when flowering, 

 its drooping state while the seeds are developing and require 

 to be preserved from the wet, and its return to the erect 

 position when the winds are desired to waft the seed to some 

 spot suitable for its growth. Now and then under the feet of 

 the party the garlic and mint gave off their characteristic 

 odour, as also the garlic-mustard, whose white flowers had 

 begun to deck the hedges. The trees were in their first 

 bloom of vernal freshness, displaying their characteristic styles 

 of flowering ; the sycamores with their pendent spikes, and 

 the bird-cherries with their showers of falling petals, the apple 

 trees with their clusters of pink and white, and the ash whose 

 unobtrusive flowers appear before the leaves. From a hole in 

 an old pollarded bole a weasel was seen to appear and 

 quickly again to disappear in a hole of the same stem where 

 doubtless he had been robbing some nest. It is unusual to 

 see any of the smaller mammalia abroad during the day, but 

 they are no doubt much more common than is usually 

 thought, as witness the case of the otter and cubs recently 

 killed at the mouth of the Ouseburn. The commoner sort of 

 birds were seen in large numbers, and also two specimens of 

 the magpie, one seen to advantage in full flight, and the other 

 uttering its characteristic notes. The lengthening days and 

 warmer sun had caused the stones in the running streams to 

 be frequented by caddis worms, and the caterpillars had 

 already begun their destructive work on the young leaves, 

 one very large specimen of that of the tiger moth being found, 

 covered with its hairy spines which the cuckoo alone can 

 digest. An inspection of the ruins of the chapel at Friarside 



