244 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



first glass filled : these were exposed to the sun on the sieve 

 which had been used to drain the wine from them, and in 

 less than three hours two of them by degrees began to 

 exhibit signs of life, and soon afterwards flew away. The 

 Rev. Mr. Kirby says that " many have recovered after having 

 been twelve months immersed." The writer of the note 

 from which 1 quote says he himself saw a fly pass out with 

 the first glassful of wine, from a freshly opened bottle of 

 champagne, which fly (one of the common species) was laid 

 on the table-cloth, and in fifteen minutes afterwards was 

 seen to gradually raise itself and totter across the table. — 

 * English Mechanic and World of Science^ December 16. 



Quill Pens. — Many of our readers will remember the old- 

 fashioned house in Cheapside, where, day after day, one or 

 two men might be seen at work in the window, cutting quills 

 into pens. Gradually the fact dawned upon the proprietor 

 that a less expensive neighbourhood would suit him quite as 

 well, and he migrated to Newgate Street. The charm, 

 however, was broken, and he sold the business with the 

 lease of the premises. A curious fact in Natural History 

 came to light with the change of proprietary. The place 

 swarmed with spiders and webs, both of which were en- 

 couraged, and the attempt to get rid of them was stoutly 

 resisted by one of the old servants, who explained that the 

 feathers of the quills harboured a peculiar highly destructive 

 species of moth ; these in turn attracted a peculiar species 

 of spider which had a natural taste for young moths, and thus 

 preserved the feathers. — ' Bookseller.'' I enclose a paragraph 

 1 have cut out from one of the daily papers. I should 

 imagine it was exaggerated so far as the " peculiar species" 

 was concerned, and probably only Tinea pseudos])retella. 

 Can you throw any light upon it in the ' P^ntomologist' ? — 

 J. Cosmo Melvill^jun. ; Manchester, Dece^nher 12, 1870. 



Lepidoptera in Cornwall. — During the first three weeks 

 of last July, Mr. L. Cumming and I took the following 

 insects in the neighbourhood of the Lizard, Cornwall. 

 Among the butterflies we got no rarities, but Aglaia, -^gon 

 and^Ijinea were all very common. Scsia philanthiformis 

 1 took flying briskly along the flowery earth-walls, and 

 settling on the thyme and sea-thrift. S. ichneumoniformis 

 was common, but local, its sluggish flight contrasting strongly 



