5930 



Insects. 



JEric.y 2 ; Leptacinus formicetoriim, Maerk.^ 3 ; Claviger testaceus, Pret/ss., 4 ; Mono- 

 toma conicicollis, Aube, 10; Ampholis margiuata, Fab., 2. Myrmedonia funesta 

 and Amphotis marginata were taken at Darenth Wood, and I am indebted to Dr. 

 Power for the same, for that gentleman took me to one of his favourite nests, where I 

 captured the specimens. Mr. E. W. Janson kindly named my captures. — /. /. 

 Reading; Plymouth, 



Occurrence of Chrysornela Banksii in December. — As a proof of the mildness of 

 the present season it may be worth while to state that T observed this afternoon seve- 

 ral specimens of C. Banksii crawling over the grass, and on the walls of Pendennis 

 Castle, near this place. It is an insect, I believe, which is usually more abundant in 

 the autumn than during the summer months ; for at Killarney, in the South West of 

 Ireland, I have been accustomed to capture it commonly in September and October ; 

 but to find it thus active within almost a week of Christmas day T cannot but regard 

 as most remarkable. Judging, indeed, from the general appearance of vegetation, 

 they would appear to have been free from frost in the West of Cornwall, for Fuchsias, 

 Hydrangeas and Calceolarias are still in bloom in the gardens ; and I remarked the 

 dog-violet, abundance of daisies, and a species of wild Geranium and Senecio in the 

 open fields about Pendennis.-— Vernon Wollaston (on board the 'Miranda,' off Fal- 

 mouth) ; December 17, 1857. 



What there is beneath our Noses. — My wish is to draw the attention of all and 

 sundry young men who have never bethought themselves about the subject to the won- 

 ders which the roadsides, quiet lanes, woods, thickets, moors, or amongst whatsoever 

 kind of scenery they may chance to be located, would yield them, if, instead of frit- 

 tering away and spending their time without a single thought of seeing into Nature, 

 they would only lie in her lap for an odd half-hour at a time, and recount to them- 

 selves a few of the many histories which even a couple of yards' square of a grassy bank 

 furnishes. I feel convinced that one single experiment would astonish them at their 

 ignorance. It startled me considerably, some few years ago, when I first heard of 

 caterpillars taking up their quarters in leaves of grass, and that they were to be found 

 everywhere for looking after ; places where'I had lain a thousand times, either resting 

 after a day's hunting, or thrown myself down upon with a friend to enjoy our otium 

 cum dig., being tenanted by scores of larvae mining and working out an existence in 

 such narrow houses ; yet there they are sure enough, and abundant proofs have been 

 shown establishing this fact. Broad-leaved grasses or narrow ones, even like a hair, 

 may, on a little examination, be detected occupied by a creature worming its way 

 down between the skins, and in some cases so large (as in Elachista cygnipennella) 

 that one almost fancies they stretch the grass considerably to find room for their 

 bodies. There is no mistaking them when once seen, nor do their jaws ever seem to 

 rest. Take a grass so tenanted, mark it at the place where the larva is, leave it for a 

 couple of hours or so, and then go back and see the progress. Had it been working 

 for a wager, or doing it at so much per yard, it could not have got on faster. Commer- 

 cial crises don't affect them as they do us poor creatures, and out in their natural state 

 they never get put upon half-time, although they are to be found on short (grass) com- 

 mons as abundantly as anywhere else. The Great Master gives them a piece of work 

 to do and they do it, whether it be to work out the natural transformations of the crea- 

 ture itself, or as a body on which battens the parasite in its earlier stages. Some of 

 them show a decided partiality for a single kind of grass, while others go in wholesale, 

 and the larva of the same species is to be found in several kinds. E. albifrontella has 



