Insects. 



0609 



proved or rendered highly probable nothing more than the existence, a 

 hundred years ago, at one spot in the island, of the edible frog, appa- 

 rently abundant, — the same spot where it was found, apparently indi- 

 genous, or at least naturalized, now nearly sixteen years ago. 



The numerous competent naturalists who are familiar with the 

 Eastern Counties' fens in their less-drained condition, and who, as far 

 as I know, never observed in them anything like what the " Whaddon 

 Organs" are believed to have always been, afford in the question 

 negative evidence not without some little weight ; at least, it makes 

 one believe that the edible frog was long nearly, if not quite, confined 

 to Foulmire. Still we must not forget Shaw and Pennant. 



But it scarcely seems past all doubt whether or not the term 

 " Whaddon Organs " referred to a peculiar species of frog ; for the 

 fen Foulmire is out of the general fen district, and the village Whad- 

 don, being close to it, might get credit for its numerous frogs and 

 toads, which I believe to have been beyond the experience of the rest 

 of that immediate part of the country. 



Still, every respect is of course due to the opinion of Mr. Bell, 

 senior, as recorded by his son. But supposing there were any mis- 

 take, it appears that there was time, after Mr. Burney's introduction of 

 his first edible frogs, for a good many of them to have moved them- 

 selves, or to have been moved, to Foulmire, and to have increased there 

 in the course of the six years that intervened before Mr. Thurnall dis- 

 covered them. But, whether there be any mistake or not, Mr. Bur- 

 ney's idea may have struck some one else many years sooner than it 

 did Mr. Burney, or than Mr. Bell lived within reach of Foulmire. 



John Wolley, Jcjn. 



Beeston, June 18, 1859. 



Description of the Larva of Eupithecia Haworthiata. — This larva seems to be little 

 known, and has not, I think, ever been described. I have, however, taken it in plenty 

 wherever its food-plant, Clematis vitalba, occurs. It is very short and stumpy, the 

 ground-colour pale bluish or yellowish green, with three horizontal dorsal stripes of a 

 darker shade : these stripes are often very indistinct, and sometimes altogether wanting. 

 The head is dusky, spotted with olive, and the body sparingly studded with minute 

 black dots. It is full fed from the middle of July to the middle of August. Tt feeds 

 inside the unopened flower-buds of Clematis vitalba, commonly known as the "Tra- 

 veller's Joy." When nearly full it frequently feeds among the stamens of the expanded 

 flower, and may then be beaten into an umbrella: it also feeds on the common white 

 garden Clematis. The presence of the larva may generally be detected by the 

 blackened appearance of the flower-buds. When it has eaten up the inside of one 

 bud it comes out and bores into a fresh one: I have frequently seen a larva busily 

 XVII. 2 Q 



