3304 Insects. 



of the year, the close attention required in their examination for de- 

 tecting the species in all their varieties, tends materially to sharpen 

 the powers of observation and discrimination, while the arraying and 

 preserving the collection is calculated to foster a habit of neatness and 

 order ; and when such a collection has been once formed, it requires 

 no unusual degree of care for its preservation. A nicely mounted col- 

 lection on cards, or in card-board trays, may be made to occupy but a 

 small space, and in addition to its being highly instructive and valua- 

 ble, may be both portable and " pretty in appearance." Another ad- 

 vantage is that the series contains but a comparatively small number 

 of species, nearly all of which are to be had, either directly, by finding 

 them alive, or indirectly, by exchange. 



For the latter purpose, and for gratuitous distribution, we have been 

 in the habit of taking great quantities, and have been thus enabled not 

 only to form a nearly complete series of this class, but also to obtain 

 a large portion of the marine series as well. Several of those said to 

 be plentiful in the vicinity of London, we have found the greatest dif- 

 ficulty in procuring, such as Assiminea Grayana, from the Greenwich 

 marshes; Clausilia biplicata, from Kensington and Battersea marshes; 

 and Cyclas rivicola, from the Thames, &c. We shall be very glad to 

 open a communication with any of your correspondents who may be 

 able to furnish us with them, or whose lists of desiderata contain any 

 we may have to offer for their acceptance. 



W. K. Bridgman. 



69, St. Giles's Street, Norwich, 

 September 20, 1851. 



Remarkable Aberration in the Colouring of a Specimen of Cynthia Cardui. — The 

 specimen from which the following brief description is drawn up, was taken by Mr. 

 George Ingall, at St. Lawrence, in the Isle of Wight, on the 8th of September in 

 the present year, and has been very obligingly placed by that gentleman in my hands 

 for description. Upper side : fore ivings. — In examples of Cynthia Cardui in its nor- 

 mal state, the entire apical area is of a deep brown colour, approaching to black, and 

 adorned with certain white markings, the chief of which is a large oblong white blotch, 

 situated at about two-thirds of the costal margin, to which its upper extremity is closely 

 approximate ; beyond this are four subrotund white spots disposed in an irregular se- 

 ries, the first and fourth being considerably larger than those which are intermediate, 

 and again, beyond these, and still nearer the apex of the wing, is a sinuous series of 

 five slender white lunules : in the aberrant example the large white mark, as well as 

 the lunules, are entirely absent ; the four subrotund spots are present, but altered in 

 form, and having indistinct and suffused limits : the lowest of the four is increased to 

 treble its normal dimensions, and united to an equally large and similarly shaped white 



