292 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



recommended by some : I have tried this, and found it useless 

 by itself. Others recommend essence of almonds, about 

 which I cannot pronounce. So uncertain a thing is sugaring 

 for moths, even in the most likely localities, that the beginner 

 at it must not be surprised if several successive nights turn 

 out to be failures. And what tends to make the matter more 

 provoking is, that the nights you might select as apparently 

 suitable as regards temperature, moisture and so forth, will 

 not prove to be so. Windy weather is, of course, bad; 

 moonlight nights frequently so, but not always. Most success 

 will attend sugaring for moths if it is done continuously. In 

 the years 1865 and 1866 I tried this mode of trapping moths 

 in a garden at Chelsea, on an average about every other 

 night, from May to September. I regret now that I did not 

 tabulate the results at the time, but, from memory, I should 

 say that upon about half the nights there was " no meeting," 

 and the nights when there was a levee did not occur oftener 

 than once a week. It was hardly likely, so near London, that 

 anything very special would turn up, though there were some 

 species which must, I presume, have flown a considerable 

 distance. Geometrae rarely appeared; and hardly a Fy rale, 

 except P. fimbrialis. A notable proof of how London is 

 spreading westward is furnished by the fact that now, after 

 five years only have elapsed, sugaring is of little advantage, 

 only such species as Acronycta Psi, Mamestra Brassicae and 

 Mania typica generally appearing. — J. R. S. Clifford; 

 Chelsea. 



Parasitic Acari on Cage Birds. — I find that these attack 

 not only canaries, but also goldfinches and linnets. It was 

 pointed out to me by a bird-fancier, that a frequent source of 

 these is the bird-seed ; and upon examination I have several 

 times found them about in rape and hemp, as supplied from 

 the shops ; not in canary. To all appearance they devour 

 the seed ; if so, it may be assumed, perhaps, that they 

 transfer themselves to the birds rather for the sake of the 

 shelter their plumage affords than for the purpose of attacking 

 them. No doubt there are species which do so; and I am 

 inclined to think that they do migrate from the bird to the 

 human subject, and vice versa, from tliis circumstance, that 

 when absent from home on one occasion my house was left 

 in charge of a person suffering (as was afterwards discovered) 



