52 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



what she termed a nest of " bull-ethers/' or adders, remarking that it was a 

 wonder I had not been " stung to death." I was not a little amused when 

 I discovered the cause of her alarm, and solemnly assured her that the "poor 

 innocent creatures could no more sting anyone than I could "fly to the 

 moon." This assurance she treated with supreme indifference, and it was 

 only when I had placed the last caterpillar safely into the box that she could 

 be induced to part with the chair, behind which she had retreated for safety. 



I then endeavoured to explain to her that as caterpillars had no fangs it 

 was impossible for them to sting anyone. That the creatures which I had in 

 the box could climb by means of claspers, and these no adders possess. And 

 that they had hairy bodies, and the adder's body is smooth and scaly. No 

 argument of mine, however, could induce her to believe that the creatures 

 were quite harmless. She maintained that the " beastes " were dangerous 

 and could sting ; and this opinion she based on the fact that her father had 

 told her, when a young girl at home in the Highlands, that the " bull-ethers" 

 were poisonous, and should be avoided. And, she concluded, her father 

 knew much more of these things than the young men of the rising generation. 

 Tor, in the Highlands, where the " bull-ethers" were most numerous, adders 

 at that place were more plentiful than elsewhere. 



1 saw that to reason further was hopeless. Like most people she had 

 certain fixed notions, which no one would persuade her to believe were wrong. 

 In my visits to the Highlands, and in conversation with Highland people in 

 the town, I have found that they fully believe that to be bitten by an adder 

 is almost certain death ; but, it is strange, that no one yet has ever been able 

 to give me a single instance in which anyone they knew personally died from 

 an adder's bite. 



78, Gloucester Street, Glasgow. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



February 3. Robert M'Lachlan, Esq., F.B.S., President, in the chair. 



The President nominated Mr. F. Du Cane Godman, F.B.S., Mr. H. T. 

 Stainton, F.R.S., and Mr. J. Jenner Weir, F.L.S., Yice-Presidents for the 

 ensuing year. 



Dr. Livett, Lieutenant Goodrich, Eustace Bankes, Esq., and F. Enock, 

 Esq., were elected Fellows ; and M. Ragonot, of Paris, ex-President of the 

 Entomological Society of France, was elected a Foreign Member of the 

 Society. 



Mr. C. 0. Waterhouse exhibited some cottony cocoons of Coccidce ( Erio- 

 pellis), some of which were found by Mr. F. Moore on blades of grass at 



