1*94.] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



99 



cruda, stabilis, gothica, &c, but the better species are absent. — A. E. 

 Gibbs, St. Albans, Herts, March 31st. 



Early appearance of Pieris Rap,e. — A fine male specimen of the 

 Pieris Rapae was taken in this neighbourhood on the 2nd February 

 last. — Miss Owen, Newholme, Latchford. 



BOTANY. 



Early Flowers. — The lesser Celendine Ranunculus Ficavia was 

 noted in flower at Appleton, Cheshire, on the 17th March, and I found 

 the Wood Anemone, Anemone nemorosa, in the Dingle, at Appleton, 

 seven days later in full flower ; while the Butturbur, Petaxitur vulgar e 

 was found in the Meadows at Arpley, near Warrington, in flower, on 

 the same date. — L. Bolton, 68, Wilderspool Causeway, Warrington. 



NOTES. 



A New Coal-tar Product. — I observe on page 42 of the British 

 Naturalist, a journal which I esteem very highly, a " Note " which may 

 probably mislead some of your readers. Toluol or toluine, as it is some- 

 times called, is by no means a newly invented or discovered liquid. It 

 is a member of the benzine or aromatic series, which have the following 

 order in respect of volatility : — Benzine, toluine, xyline, and culmine. It 

 is, for the reason given in the " Note," very suitable for use in ther- 

 mometers, but its colour is not blue, but " white " in the sense of 

 water-white, that is to say, it is perfectly transparent, but capable of 

 dissolving some of the coal-tar colours, especially after the addition 

 thereto of a little amyl or fusel oil, so as to be intensely coloured. 

 Toluol is the base of the substitute for sugar known as " Saccharine," 

 which is several hundred times sweeter than sugar, and of the colour 

 known as " magenta." This last will give an indication of its antiquity. 

 A very wide range of colouring matters are made from it, and it is also 

 employed in the synthetical preparation of benzoic and cinnamic acids 

 and their derivatives. Its chemical name is " Methylbenzine," and it 

 was first discovered by Pelletier and Walter, as a tar product from the 

 destructive distillation of the resin of Pinus maritima. It can also be 

 prepared from wood spirit and vegetable tar. — W. E. H. 



The Effects of Cold upon " Insect Pests." — -"There is a popu- 

 lar idea that when a hard frost gets into the ground it kills the grubs. 

 Such, however, is not the case ; if anything, the frost protects 



