9 8 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. [April 



The Greater Spotted Woodpecker (Picus Major). — It is very 

 seldom that the Greater Spotted Woodpecker is to be seen near a busy 

 town, but a fine specimen was shot on the 12th of February, by Mr. 

 James Casey, at Oxton, Birkenhead. The Greater Spotted Wood- 

 pecker feeds on insects, nuts, acorns, and the seeds of the pine and 

 fir, and in order to crack the nuts and acorns it places them in the 

 clefts of the trees. To obtain the insects which live in trees, this bird 

 drives its bill into a crack and makes a tremulous sound, as if the 

 tree were splitting, which has the effect of causing the insects to leave 

 their haunts within and come to the spot where the bird may be. 

 The sound produced may be heard for half a mile distant, and one 

 operation will be continued for half an hour. This bird also feeds on 

 wall-fruit, plums, cherries, and other like fruit, committing great 

 havoc with the resources of the fruit grower. It also alights on moss, 

 and other vegetable matter, where it finds a plentiful supply of spiders, 

 ants, and other insects. The eggs of the Greater Spotted Woodpecker 

 are of glossy white, between four and six in number, and are deposited 

 upon the decayed wood at the bottom of a hole in a tree. 



COLEOPTERA. 



Coleoptera at Carlisle. — On February 6th, Mr. G. B. Routledge 

 exhibited at the City of London Entomological and Natural History 

 Society a quantity of beetles collected by himself in this district, which 

 included representatives o the following species : — Pterostichns versicolor, 

 Amara ovata, and other Carabidae ; Necrophovus ruspdtor, Silpha nigrita; 

 five species of Coccinellidae ; four species of Telephorus ; Corymbites 

 cupveus, Limonius cylindricus ; Barynotus schdnherri, and other Curculionidae. ' 



Sphodrus Leucophthalmus. — I took a specimen of this beetle at 

 the base of a pillar in St. Nicholas' Church, Gloucester, on September 

 12th, 1893. My friend the Rev. J.J. Luce is the vicar, and the church 

 has just been renovated. The bases of the pillars are two or three feet - 

 below the level of the paved floor. A space had been left to show the 

 footing of these pillars ; and in the dark I observed a still darker object, 

 and stretched down at full length in the aisle_ to capture it — much 

 to the amusement of the Vicar. On getting back to my lodgings I 

 found my insect to be Sphodrus leucophthalmus. — R. Beck, Southampton, j 



LEPIDOPTERA. 



h 



Lepidoptera "at the Sallows. — Sallow is very productive of com- 

 mon species this year. Last week I could have taken thousands of 



