THE YOUNG NATUE&LIST. 



89 



mud as well as sand, and for this reason the sea, instead of being the beauti- 

 ful clear blue of the more open channel, is of a thick brownish colour. 



May 24. — In the afternoon we walked a short distance inland and found 

 a Chiff-chaff's nest with several eggs, in the grassy bank of a lane. We saw 

 several L. argiolm flying in the sunshine, but having no net with us, could 

 not catch any. Though a bright sunny afternoon, a bat was flying backwards 

 and forwards under the shade of some trees, busily engaged in a hunt for 

 insects. We were interested and a little disgusted to see a couple of dozen 

 or more dead adders, all of which were said to have been killed the day before, 

 hung up outside a farm house, which we passed in the course of our walk. 



May 25. — Very wet in the morning, but cleared a little later in the day, 

 when we went by train to Blue Anchor, in order to see the alabaster cliffs, which 

 are within half-a-mile of that station. These cliffs are composed entirely of 

 a blue slaty stone, intersected by layers of white and red alabaster, the whole 

 forming a most beautiful coloured rock. After collecting some good speci- 

 mens of both colours, we walked back to Minehead, passing on our way, 

 through the quaint old village of Dunster. 



May 26.-— We went to the top of Dunkerry Beacon, the highest point of 

 Exmoor. This hill, about five miles from Minehead, rises to a height of 

 some 1660 feet above the sea, and in ancient times, beacon fires were lighted 

 on its summit, to give warning of the approach of an enemy ; these being 

 answered, it is said, by similar signals on the Welsh and even on the far dis- 

 tant Malvern Hills. We were unfortunate with regard to the weather, the 

 day being stormy and the clouds very low, at one time hanging right below 

 : us over the sea, and though indeed nothing could have been more beautiful, 

 still there was no distant view ; the Welsh coast being indistinct and the 

 Malvern Hills quite invisible. Numerous S. carpini were flying over the 

 heather, and we took some very dark varieties, all however, were more or less 

 worn. We took, besides these, some specimens of F. atomaria and beat a 

 larvae out of the heather by the roadside. A Grouse was seen by one of the 

 party. The following day we returned home, taking with us all the various 

 treasures we had collected, during the very pleasant month we had spent in 

 the counties of Devon and Somerset. 



ENTHUSIASTIC ENTOMOLOGISTS. 



By JOHN MAGKAY. 



Perhaps there is no feature more characteristic of the true entomologist 

 than that of enthusiasm. It may indeed be truly said that the student of 



