THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



209 



In making this announcement I do not wish to lay down any haid and 

 fast line that shall not be departed from. Neither to say that I will do one 

 thing or will not do another. I will try as far as possible to give information 

 that will be useful. Hints on collecting and breeding, on preserving and 

 setting, on arranging etc., etc., all kind of objects in Natural History, most 

 attention being given to those that interest the larger number of the readers 

 of the Young Naturalist. Remarks on captures, notes on species and 

 varieties, and gossip generally, upon the objects we collect or study, such as 

 might be supposed to be conveyed to a few young friends in an " At Home." 



I invite then, the readers of the Young Naturalist, to communicate more 

 freely and more numerously than they have hitherto done. Whatever subject 

 may be raised, will find a place here, if suitable. Whenever my own knowledge 

 is not sufficient to enable me to answer enquiries, or remove difficulties, I will 

 apply elsewhere for help, and trust by the able assistance that is so freely at 

 the service of the readers of the Young Naturalist, that no information sought 

 for will be wanting. I do not propose necessarily to confine each article to 

 one point as was done before. A line or two will be enough on one subject, 

 while another may demand a page. I take up the subjects now, on which I 

 have had most communications recently, or which seem to me most interest- 

 ing. 



Agrotis aquilina, tritici, &c. 



I have had numerous enquiries respecting these species, but I do not know 

 that I could add much to what was said in an article on the subject in the 

 Y.N. Yol. II. p, 157. In the six years that have elapsed since then I have 

 examined a large number of aquilina and a very much larger number of 

 tritici. There no doubt are many specimens that would not be easily 

 attributed to the correct species, if examined alone, but most of the difficulties 

 I have had, have been from specimens in bad condition, being sent to me to 

 name. A bad specimen except of a great rarity is utterly worthless, and to 

 set worn tritici and then send them out to be named is a pure waste of time. 

 I have had some miserable little things sent me that were so worn they might 

 pass for aquilina as well as anything else, were it not that they were much 

 too small. The smallest aquilina is always as large as the largest tritici, 

 and if you have an insect expanding over 1| inches, whatever else it may be, 

 you may be confident it is not tritici. Hereabouts — on the North-East 

 coast — tritici is generally large and well marked, generally with a golden 

 brown shade that is very distinct. On the South-East coast the species is 

 mostly smaller and duller, and I have never seen one with the rich golden 

 hue of a fine fresh specimen from this part of the coast, nor are the 

 markings so well defined. I have seen but few from the South coast, and 



