364 Proceedings of Societies. 



was a squirrel, who had made his house in a hollow at the root of a branch. 

 The squirrel would pop out his head and look at them ; and the moment 

 the coast was clear, he would run out and scratch away at these things, and 

 tear away the bark ; and when the birds would see him, they would 

 all attack him, and he would run like lightning down the tree, and up 

 the other side and into his hole again, and then peep out and watch 

 another chance to do the same, evidently having great fun. This 

 continued for about three days, till at last one of the party knocked the 

 squirrel's head off with a rifle-ball, and rid them of their persecutor." 

 In a subsequent letter his brother gives the following additional informa- 

 tion. He says — " Newland, a Scotchman, told him he had often seen 

 the woodpecker storing the acorns, and that it was a black bird with a red 

 head ; but Simson, he said, would introduce me to Dr Trask (author of the 

 geological report herewith sent), and that he would be able to say posi- 

 tively. The Doctor stated that the provident woodpecker is the black one 

 with the red head and yellow throat, that he had observed them re- 

 peatedly ; and further asserted that they eat acorns, and that he had 

 seen them do it. In confirmation of the possibility at least of their being 

 vegetable feeders, Simson tells me that in the western country the 

 farmers frequently clear the woods by cutting the communication of the 

 bark of the trees, and that, where that is done, these red-headed wood- 

 peckers appear in the clearings in perfect swarms, and destroy apples 

 and peaches in these districts to such an extent that it is impossible to 

 have any fruit. I do not know whether they eat the acorns or the grub 

 that may be in them, but it is most certain that they bore holes in the 

 bark, and hammer in the acorns so firmly that you can hardly pick them 

 out again, and afterwards break them open, and eat something that is 

 within the shell. The native Californians are so well acquainted with 

 the fact, that they say when the woodpeckers commence early, it is a 

 sign that we shall have a severe winter. They keep boring the holes all 

 the summer, and are all ready for harvest when the acorns are ripe." 

 My brother adds that Mr Simson came across Mexico with John Audubon 

 (he presumed the son), who watched them, stuffed their skins, and knows 

 all about them. They first observed these acorn deposits in Chihuahua. 

 Mr Murray was inclined to think that the evidence contained in these 

 letters would be sufficient to satisfy the Society, as it had done himself, 

 that there is good ground for believing that bona fide acorn deposits are 

 in California stored up for future consumption by a woodpecker. 



3. Notice of the Lepidopterous captures near Edinburgh, during the 

 past Season. By Wm. H. Lowe, M.D. 



Dr Lowe having been appointed Convener of the Entomological Com- 

 mittee at the last winter meeting of the Society, said, he thought that, 

 although from the small number of entomologists in Edinburgh , and those 

 for the most part engaged in active professions, little had been accom- 

 plished during the past summer, still he had several species of Lepidop- 

 tera to bring forward as new to the list published by him and Mr R. F. 

 Logan in 1852. As his own captures, he mentioned Trachea piniperda 

 (two specimens), Micropteryx unimaculella, Lampronia quadripunc- 

 tella, Peronea Hastiana, Jinea Zinkenii. To these he had to add, 

 Pterophorus acanthodactylus , 1851, Argynnis selene, 1853, Satyrus 

 dabus, Hepialus yelleda, Cabera exanthemaria , Euthemonia plan- 

 taginis, Zanthia rufina, Dosithea reversaria, all which were owing to 

 the industry of Mr Andrew Wilson of this city, and with the exception of 

 Cabera exanthemaria, which had been previously taken by Mr Peter 

 Fairbairn, as well as by Dr Lowe, were additions to the insects of this 



