94 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



[April 



Wren ; and Messrs. R. Leighton and Wilkinson showed several cases illustrating the 

 method of preserving the larvae and pupa? of lepidoptera. 



The attention of the society was called to the fact that in the local Museum Oology 

 was not represented, and it was suggested by several of the members that this 

 deficiency should be remedied and an oological collection formed. — Jno. Buckle, 

 Secretary. 



LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



March 12th, the President (Mr. S. J. Capper, F.L.S., F.E.S.) in the chair. Mr. 

 W. E. Sharp gave a brief description of the British species of the genus Silpha, 

 particularly those of local occurrence, in the course of which he quoted an extract 

 from the transactions of the Societe de Biologie of Paris, by Professor A. Giard, on 

 Silpha opaca, an insect most destructive to the French beetroot crops. The notes 

 were illustrated by specimens of the genus. Miss E. H. Lea exhibited varieties of 

 Cidaria psitticata and C. miata ; Mr. John Lea, large specimens of cidaria sagitta; 

 Mr. John Watson, Meganostoma csesonia, Catopsilia crocea, Colias vautierii, and C. 

 fieldii.— F. N. Pierce, Hon. Sec. 



MANCHESTER FIELD NATURALISTS' SOCIETY. 



The Manchester Field Naturalists began their spring season on Saturday, March 3rd, when 

 a party of the members visited the Whitworth Park. Of course the trees were still leafless, 

 though green buds were shown in plenty by the early risers, among them the hawthorn, 

 the lilacs, and the elder in particular. Here and there was abundance also of incipient 

 sallow-bloom, though whether it would be ready for Palm Sunday seemed doubtful. Mr. 

 Grindon spoke at length on the origin of the employment of it in church services upon that 

 day, and adverted to the mistake, by no means uncommon, of supposing the sallow to be 

 Rosalind's " palm," an error at once corrected by recalling the story of the sources of the 

 play. Very pretty, too, was the spectacle of the rising foliage of many of the herbaceous 

 perennials in the botanical department, near the Rusholme entrance, especially that of the 

 columbine, so devoted to the collection of dew for the use of young ladies who wish to 

 improve their complexion, light bathing of the cheeks with it, held in the palm of the hand, 

 being an infallible specific The difficulty is that in order to be efficacious the dew must 

 be collected personally, thrice a week from May-Day up to Michaelmas, and never a 

 minute later than eight a.m. 



The pride of the Park just now consists in its crocuses, yellow, purple, and white, a most 

 beautiful display, diffused over a considerable expanse of greensward, near the entrance to 

 the Art Gallery, and plainly visible to passengers along the .Wilmslow road. There 

 are no fewer than sixty-seven different species, as appears from Mr. Mann's splendid 

 monograph, with its coloured plates of every kind. The area of geographical distribution 

 is chiefly South European, reaching from Portugal to Greece, and having its metropolis in 

 the last-named country and the Greek Archipelago, with extension in some degree into 

 Asia Minor. None of the sixty-seven species extend further north than the continental 

 shores of the English Channel. Two or three are accounted British, nevertheless, and are 

 included in the Floras, especially the purple spring vermis, and the purple autumnal 

 nudiflorus. The vernus once grew in abundance in meadows near St. George's, Hulme, 

 but the ground has been covered with buildings for more than forty years. The vernus 

 also grew in meadows below Prestwich Church. Whether still extant there he could not 

 say. The nudiflorus is still plentiful about Northenden, near Bramall, and probably in 

 various other places near Manchester. The meadows by the riverside below Nottingham 

 are flooded with the vernus, and other localities are claimed. It would seem, however, 

 that in every case of apparently British birth, the crocus is only a garden waif, or descend- 

 ant of ancient cultivation, being one of the plants that love to see new countries, and 



