THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



203 



difficult subjects are made understand- 

 able even by those who have no previous 

 knowledge on the subject. The prin- 

 cipal works are/' The Descent of Man/' 

 *' The Variation of Animals and Plants 

 under Domestication/^" The Expression 

 of the Emotions/' " The Fertilization of 

 Orchids/' " Insectivorous Plants/' ''The 

 Movements and Habits of Climbing 

 Plants/' &c., &c. His last ^vork was 

 '* The Formation of Vegetable Mould 

 through the Action of Worms/' which 

 is as original in tlioiight as important 

 in its teachings, and as fall of the results 

 of painstaking investigation as any of 

 his earlier works. 



Married in 1839 to his cousin, Miss 

 Wedgewood, ho leaves five sons and 

 two daughters. Two, at least, of his 

 sons are already known to fame, one 

 of them, Mr. Francis Darwin, following 

 in liis father's footsteps. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



All communications to be Kont to J. E. Robson, 15i 

 Nortbgate, Hartlepool; or to S. L. Mosley Beau- 

 mont Park, UuddcrHlield. 



Subscriptions for Vol. III. are now due. 

 Weekly numbers or monthly parts, 6s.; 

 with plain plates ; or 8s. with coloured 

 plates. The latter cannot be obtained 

 through the booksellers, but any one can 

 have their plates coloured on application 

 to the Editors. 



Miss Ruth Prescott Decie.— Your plant 

 is Dielytra spectabilis, a China plant, intro- 

 duced early in the present century, and 

 now naturalised and very common in 

 cottage gardens, whence, doubtless, it has 

 escaped at some time to where you fouiul 

 it. It is easy of cuUivuiiou, but uficn 



suffers from spring frosts, I saw bushy 

 plants of it two feet high on Tweedside 

 cut down by the severe frost of a fortnight 

 ago. it is sometimes called Lyre flower, 

 from the shape of the blossoms like an 

 ancient lyre. The generic name, Dielytra, 

 — two wings, — from their winged flowers, 

 and spectabilis from its showy appearance. 

 It belongs the N. O. Ftmariacece, repre- 

 sented by the fumitories of our fields — 

 which it resembles like an enlarged copy. 



— J. P. So UTTER. 



EXCHANGE. 



Duplicates. — Larvae and pupae of Epiimia. 

 lichenea. Desiderata. — Larvae, pupae, or 

 imagines of butterflies and moths. — C. J. 

 H.'\RRisoN, 65, Haddington Road, Stoke, 

 Devonport. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS 



Captures at Hastings. — On Monday, 

 April 3rd, I made a short excursion in 

 search of Coleoptera, and found among 

 the following species : — Blechrus mauruSf 

 darting about?'on clay banks in the sun- 

 shine ; Quedias imjyressus, floating on a 

 pond ; Hopatrun sahiilosum, in a sunny 

 bank, about half-a-dozen ; Dimous CferideuSf 

 in wet moss, at Fairlight ; two Xestohium 

 femdata, in an old tree ; Eykslnus crenatus, 

 under ash bark. The following in a sand-pit, 

 at Fairlight : Calatlms nvelatwcephaluSj 

 Amara lunicollis, Mycetajjoi^us longulus, 

 St(ij?Itt/linus ceesareiis, Caret n^ps ymni/iuif 

 Uijpera plantagiuis, polygoni, punctata^ and 

 niyrirostris ; Ilhynoncus peincaipiu^f and 

 Myrmcdonlii lii/ibata, under a stone among 

 ants. — W. PI. Bennett, ii, George Street, 

 Hastings. 



Birmingham Notes. — April 7th. Ob- 

 served localities for the following tlowers 

 at Sutton.— On fields to the north of the 

 town the Lesser Celandine lianunculus 

 Ficaria, was growing in groat abundance. 

 Primroses ami Violets oil the banks, and 

 the Wild Narcissus very plentiful iu the 



