THE yOUNG NATURALIST 



177 



There is a very pretty little fish whose 

 name I do not know, but called locally the 

 Stinging Fish. It may be one of the Blennies 

 perhaps. It is yellow in colour, with black 

 or dark brown markings. It lies about the 

 bottom of shallow pools, or swims freely in 

 deeper water. The dorsal fin is stiff, and 

 the rays are sharp, and easily penetrate the 

 skin, inflicting a most painful wound. It 

 thrives tolerably well in an aquarium, but 

 you must be very careful not to touch it. 

 When a wound is inflicted by it, considerable 

 swelling takes place, not only at the part 

 wounded, but further up the limb, accom- 

 panied by excruciating pain. Bathing once 

 in deep water, my companion cried out 

 immediately he touched the water, that he 

 was stung. With some trouble we got him 

 into the boat. The wound was on his foot, 

 and though it was inflicted in the water, 

 which might have washed out any poison, 

 the swelling was so immediate that we 

 could not get his boot on. By the time we 

 reached the shore he was unable to walk, 

 and it was a fortnight before he was able to 

 do so again. I have known very many 

 similar cases but no fatal results have 

 followed. 



HELPS AND HINTS FOR 

 YOUNG ENTOMOLOGISTS 



By Albert H. Waters, B.A. 



Midsummer seems a not inappropiate 

 time to commence a short series of papers, 

 designed as hints and helps for young 

 entomologists, and containing a few brief 

 hints upon some of the less common British 

 insects, more especially the lepidoptera; 

 mention may also probably be made of 

 some interesting species of general distribu- 

 tion. It is at midsummer the world ot 

 insects is at its height of bustle and activity ; 



it is then that 



u The Emperor takes his aerial trips, 

 And nectar the star studded Adippe sips." 



and in the woods in the south of England 

 his imperial majesty Apatura Iris may be 

 seen soaring high over the tops of the oak 

 trees. Anon he will settle on one of the lofti- 

 est sprays and look down with contemptuous 

 disdain at the frantic efforts of the collectors 

 to reach him with a muslin net on the end 

 of a long fishing rod. "Ah," we can fancy 

 him saying to himself as he draws his 

 antennae down one after after another with 

 his fore legs and meditatively cleans them, 

 " You think a great deal of yourself you big 

 two legged creature down there, but you 

 have not wings like me, and with all your 

 boasting about being ' a lord of creation' 

 you are obliged to keep on the ground while 

 I can soar up into the boundless air and defy 

 you. And defy the collector he often does, 

 but there are ways of luring him down from 

 his lofty throne. A handful of over-ripe 

 gooseberries a trifled crushed, is sometimes 

 an irresistable temptation to him and will 

 do the business nicely. But perhaps rearing 

 it is the best way to obtain the Purple 

 Emperor. There is certainly this advantage, 

 that you learn more about its natural history 

 than you do when you content yourself with 

 capturing the perfect insect, and chloroform- 

 ing and pinning it out. 



Those entomologists who are fortunate 

 enough to live in the south of England may 

 not improbably come across the larva by 

 diligently and carefully searching the sallows 

 growing in the neighbourhood of the oak 

 woods about the middle of June. It is im- 

 possible to mistake the green-slug-like cater- 

 pillar, with tentacle-like horns on its head, 

 and the singular appearance it presents 

 owing to the absence of legs on the last 

 segment, whence the generic name Apatura 

 for Apodura. 



The High Brown Fritillary— the " star 

 studded A iippe" mentioned in the couplet 



