4546 Insects, 



conceived ideas of geographical distribution would be subverted, and, 

 in the inextricable confusion that would ensue, naturalists of the pre- 

 sent time would hereafter receive but sorry justice, and would be 

 thought to have overlooked many objects which our descendants had 

 through their greater assiduity discovered ; while naturalists of future 

 years would find themselves entangled in a very Penelope's web in 

 the vain attempt to unravel the knot we had tied, and to separate truly 

 indigenous species from those that had been introduced. 



I would earnestly beg, therefore, that any one who shall hereafter 

 introduce any form of animal or vegetable life into a new locality, or 

 may have already done so, will make known the same through the 

 medium of the ' Zoologist,' or any other such like publication, to his 

 brother naturalists of the present and future times ; and I trust that 

 my namesake, Mr. G. Norman, will have the kindness to send the 

 names of the Mollusca he has succeeded in naturalising in the North 

 of England (Zool. 4435) for insertion, and thus set an example, 

 which I hope all, under the same circumstances, will follow. 



There is little doubt but that many forms of exotic animal life 

 would as easily become acclimatised in this country as do those of 

 the vegetable kingdom ; but whether it is desirable thus to introduce 

 them is a matter on which there is a great diversity of opinion. All 

 I wish now to enforce is the great importance of making known, 

 in the most public manner possible, every instance of foreign importa- 

 tion into this country, or into any particular neighbourhood. It 

 would take up too much of your space were I to enumerate the many 

 uncertainties that have arisen, with regard to the ascertaining of true 

 natives, from the neglect of this most important measure in past times. 

 Many such will occur to your readers in almost any branch of Na- 

 tural History in which they may be interested. 



Alfred Merle Norman. 



Isle of C umbrae, N. B. 

 Sept. 10, 1854. 



Ravages of Caterpillars. By the Rev. Arthur Hussey, M.A. 



For the last two summers many of the gardens in this village have 

 been infested by caterpillars to such an extent, that the cabbages 

 have been utterly destroyed. When fully fed, the vermin, as usual, 

 crawled away in search of a spot where to undergo their next change, 



