190 8- 1909.] Nature Notes, 139 



interesting blossoms of our common trees. In May a great 

 number of different trees produce their flowers or catkins, 

 and one must be ready to study them before they fall to 

 the ground or are blown away by the wind. Among trees 

 the hanging sprays of the larch are conspicuous with their 

 yellow stamen-bearing flowers, the pollen from which, falling 

 upon the delicate crimson blossoms in the same spray, will 

 enable them to become the cones of next autumn. There 

 is a certain resemblance among catkins, but one may always 

 recognise poplars by their drooping catkins, whilst willow 

 flowers are always borne upright upon their stems. A 

 dandelion gathered in March makes a fine nature -study 

 lesson. The life-history of the plant, its place of growth, the 

 functions of the stem and the leaf, one should try to explain, 

 and the minute structure of these should be investigated 

 with the help of a hand-lens and a sharp knife. 



Although entomology is said to be a hobby of schoolboys 

 and old men, yet observations of caterpillars are most in- 

 structive, and along with them other larval forms may be 

 usefully compared. The setting, preparing, and rearing of 

 butterflies is interesting in every age. The study, too, of 

 the solitary bees is enticing as well as instructive. They 

 live in all sorts of places. The mason bee lives in the 

 hollow of a bramble stem ; the upholsterer bee gets its name 

 from the habit of lining its nest with rose-leaves ; and the 

 drapery bee {Megachile 'pa^paveris) makes its own curtains. It 

 skilfully cuts out the petals of the poppy before the flowers 

 are blown ; then, after folding and fitting them for its pur- 

 pose, it overhangs the walls of its cells with this gorgeous 

 tapestry, in which, when complete, it deposits its honey. 

 Some of these solitary bees are smaller than honey - flies, 

 and others are as large as humble-bees. Some are jet black, 

 and others yellow and brown. They abound in great variety 

 through the spring and summer months, and their remarkably 

 interesting habits should lead many people to inquire about 

 them. Any one anxious to collect them may find them in 

 flowers, turf, gravel-walks, old walls, and hedge-banks. They 

 are easily caught, and can be kept under glass till one finds 

 out all one wishes to know about them. 



But what better nature-study is there than a burn ? Its 



