2612 Insects. 



reminded me of fairy tales. The solitary wood, the pool with its strange inmates, 

 the Fakeer's lonely hut' on the hill side, the Fakeer himself, tall, swart, and gaunt, 

 the robber-looking Belochee by my side, made up a fantastic picture. Strange, too, 

 the control our showman displayed over his ' lions.' On his motioning with the pole 

 they stopped (indeed, they had already arrived at a disagreeable propinquity), and on 

 his calling out ' Baitho,' ' Sit down,' they lay flat on their stomachs, grinning horrible 

 obedience with their open and expectant jaws. Some large pieces of flesh were thrown 

 to them, to get which they struggled, writhed, and fought, and tore the flesh into 

 shreds and gobbets. I was amused with the respect the smaller ones showed to their 

 overgrown seniors. One fellow, about ten feet long, was walking up to the feeding- 

 ground from the water, when he caught a glimpse of another much larger just behind 

 him. It was odd to see the frightened look with which he sidled out of the way, evi- 

 dently expecting to lose half a yard of his tail before he could effect his retreat. At 

 a short distance (perhaps half a mile) from the first pool, I was shown another, in 

 which the water was as warm as one could bear it for complete immersion, yet even 

 here I saw some small alligators. The Fakeer told me these brutes were very nume- 

 rous in the river, about fifteen or twenty miles to the west. The monarch of the 

 place, an enormous alligator, to which the Fakeer had given the name of ' Mor 

 Saheb,' * My Lord Mor,' never obeyed the call to come out. As I walked round the 

 pool I was shown where he lay, with his head above water, immoveable as a log, and 

 for which I should have mistaken him but for his small savage eyes, which glittered 

 so that they seemed to emit sparks. He was, the Fakeer said, very fierce and dan- 

 gerous, and at least twenty feet in length. — * Dry Leaves from Young Egypt.' 



Colias Edusa and C. Hyale. — My friend Mr. Engleheart found Colias Edusa very 

 abundant, but could only find four specimens of C. Hyale, at Ventnor, this year. 

 Edusa has also occurred in the New Forest and on Newmarket Heath, but I have 

 not heard of Hyale having been taken at either of those places. — Frederick Bond ; 

 Kingsbury, October 16, 1849. 



Colias Hyale near Brighton. — It may be worth mentioning that I have received 

 from my brother a fine specimen of Colias Hyale, taken at Brighton, about the 13th 

 of September last. A young friend of mine has also brought home three specimens 

 of this insect from the same place, which he took in a meadow behind Kemp Town, 

 near some clover-fields, between the 5th and 10th of September. C. Edusa was by 

 no means uncommon. — W. J. Wild; Heme Hill, October 5, 1849. 



Pure Starch discharged by the Larva of Cossus ligniperda. — Some young friends of 

 mine having brought me a fine specimen of the larva of Cossus ligniperda, I was 

 curious to know the nature of a milky fluid the insect threw up in the bottle in which 

 it was confined. A portion dried upon a glass plate, being submitted to one of Ross's 

 achromatics, was found to be pure starch, polarized light showing the black cross 

 very beautifully in each grain. I had hitherto imagined that the larva of Cossus 

 consumed the wood of the trees into which it bored : it appears, however, more nice, 

 extracting the nutritious juices only. In this experiment T was struck with the 

 amount and purity of the starch. — /. B. Spencer; 11, Montpellier Roiv, Blackheath, 

 October, 1849. 



