6o 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



[March 



catkins, we will examine some of the ;e, and if we find traces of larvae 

 we must fill another baj^s fo^ we may breed from them specimens of 

 P. hilimana and E. nana. On leaving these Birches and strolling on, 

 we notice the Larch trees have the tips of the leaves of the lower 

 branches very much bleached by the operations of the larva of C. 

 laricella, the cases of which are whitish, but rather small at present and 

 are found on the underside of the leaves, we will take some of these for 

 they are not common every Vvdiere. As we are leaving the wood we 

 notice the Genista anglica grovvdng rather plentifully near the furze 

 bushes, is already bearing traces of the work of C. genisticollela, we 

 will leave these for another month at least, when we shall find them 

 much larger and have a better chance of rearing them, and in the lane 

 we shall now and then find the larva of T. emyella in the leaves of 

 brambles close under the hedges and on ballast heaps, or on railway 

 banks where the coltsfoot is growing freely, we can now find the larva 

 of P. tiygonodactylus. These larva when full grown spin together the 

 downy substance of the seed head and change to the pupa state there. 



It is as well to get all Ave can of the above as soon as possible, 

 although many are to be taken next month, but the number of species 

 then occurring in the larva state give us plenty of occupation for any 

 amount of leisure time we may then have at our disposal, and now 

 having completed the round of the twelve months, and given some of 

 my young friends a few directions as to collecting larvae of the Micro- 

 lepidoptera for each as it arrives, I leave them for a time, hoping that 

 some may become students of this interesting group, the interest of 

 which increases, the more their life-histories and habits are 

 investigated. 



Shepherdess Walk, City Road, London, N. 



NATURALISTS OF THE DAY. 



III.— SAMUEL JAMES CAPPER, F.E.S., F.L.S., &c. 



The gentlemen wdiose portrait appears to-day was born in London 

 on the 28th April, 1825. He appears to have had an "inborn love of 

 Lepidoptera," which was strengthened and developed by being sent 

 to a boarding school, at Epping, where the brothers Doubleday, and 

 especially Henry, did their best to encourage the schoolboys in their 

 natural history pursuits. He remembers being present one Sunday 

 at a Friends' meeting, when a specimen of Catocala niipta dashed about 

 the room for a time, tlien fiew to one of the windows, when Henry 



