286 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



I secured on April 16th was forwarded to Norwich Museum. Two, which 

 I did not see, were brought in contemporaneously with the last, and were 

 cut up for sale. Thus in a few weeks, and of a species not before locally 

 identified, five specimens have occurred off the coast, and it may undoubt- 

 edly lay claim to insertion in the county list. — Arthur Patterson (Yar- 

 mouth, Norfolk). 



INSECTA. 

 Birds feeding on the Larvae of the Magpie-moth.— I was interested 

 in reading the note in connection with this species, Abraxas grossulariata 

 (ante, p. 169), I see that Mr. Butler, in the work on British Birds and 

 Eggs, with illustrations by Mr. Frohawk, now in course of publication, states 

 '* that no bird will touch the larvae of the Gooseberry Moth," by which, I 

 take it, he means Abraxas grossulariata. I can assure him that the Cuckoo 

 will do so readily. Some years ago, in a large orchard of ours, the goose- 

 berry and currant trees were infested with this pest, and at the same time 

 numbers of Cuckoos appeared. We did not connect the two at first, but 

 ray father shot one bird, and its stomach was found to be crammed with 

 these obnoxious larvae. — Oxley Grabham (Heathwold, Goathland). 



MOLLUSCA. 

 Early Snails.— On Christmas Day, 1896, at about 10 a.m., I saw a 

 Snail, Helix nemoralis, adult, extended at full length, and crawling along 

 the road. A good deal of rain had fallen during the previous night. On 

 March 2nd of the present year I again met with this species abroad. This 

 also was a full-grown specimen, and was found crawling on a wet piece of 

 wood at the edge of a ditch. Limnaa peregra is often to be seen here 

 crawling about in numbers as early as February. — G. T. Rope (Blaxhall, 

 Suffolk). 





