78 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



[March 



of a dealer's specimen, said to have been captured in the Isle of Man, can 

 be looked upon as British by anyone who knows what Isle of Man P. 

 Nigrocincta are like. In any case I should not put one of these Xantha- 

 mista (Hb.)-like specimens in my British collection as a British insect 

 without better proof than I possess at present. — John Thorpe, Middleton, 

 near Manchester. 



Aciptilia Spilodactyla, Curt. — Mr. Tutt in the January number ot 

 the British Naturalist, page 8, stated " I have left entirely out of account 

 the Fabrician migadactyla, as there may be a white Continental (not 

 British) species, to which the description might apply, but that does not 

 influence Haworth's use of the name for our species ; " and again " I 

 have already quoted Haworth's original description of migadactyla." 

 These audacious statements rather startled me, so I consulted Chambers's 

 Dictionary as to the meaning of the word original, and find it to be "first 

 in order of existence, not copied, not translated." Then I turn to 

 Haworth's "Lepidoptera Britannica," and find in it Pterophorus miga- 

 dactylus, Fab., Ent., Syst., with full description taken from Fabricius and 

 acknowledged. Then I turn to Fabricius' work, and find his description 

 to be word for word the same as Haworth's. Yet Mr. Tutt would have 

 us believe that Haworth himself described this species and that his name 

 ought to stand. But the migadactylus of Fabricius and of Haworth is 

 the same species, and the descriptions are identical. Whether Haworth 

 intended or not the name and description to apply to the species, 

 which Curtis afterwards named spilodactyla, has nothing to do with it. 

 The fact remains " he did not name and describe a species as migada- 

 ctylus, but merely copied Fabricius ; and moreover he did not possess 

 spilodactylus, Curt." Mr. Tutt will find a figure of the species under the 

 name Migadactylus in Wood's "Index Entomologicus " (probably 

 ochrodactylus, Hbj. — C. W, Dale, Glanvilles Wootton, February 8th, 

 1894. 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



The Hawfinch, or Haw Grosbeak (Coccothraustes vulgaris). — It 

 is not, I am well aware, within the scope of your Magazine to sing the 

 praises of the Morello cherry, though it well deserves a eulogy. Some 

 years ago a single tree continued year after year to bear so well that I 

 planted a number of trees, not only against north and west walls, but in 

 the open, in my orchard amongst the apple, pear, and plum trees. The 

 soil is thin and very light, never forming clods, and below lies 20 feet ot 

 soft yellow sand, similar to the deep bed exposed by the Ship Canal 

 cutting at Twenty-Step Bridge, and a heavy crop, lasting from about the 

 10th August to the middle of September, has always rewarded me. The 



