The nm^ mnuuBi: 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. UO. JULY 15th, 1882. Vol. 3. 



COMMON THINGS. 



WE have more than once called the 

 attention of those of our read- 

 ers who are but young in natuaral 

 history pursuits to the importance of 

 their " Notes and Observations " being 

 sent to us. Our circle of correspond- 

 ents is enlarging, and a tendency is 

 manifesting itself to record everything 

 noticed. We have to use the scissors 

 rather unsparingly to many of these 

 contributions ; and while there is no 

 doubt that we sometimes print a note 

 of little importance, it is equally likely 

 that in our ignorance we cut out many 

 ail important record. We have tried 

 to err on the other side, for we believe 

 it better to run the risk of repeating 

 an item that every one knows, or pub- 

 lishing the same fact more than once, 

 : rather than run the o])posite risk of 

 not printing it at all. Some people 

 §eem to think that ''Common Things " 

 'should not have any notice at all; yet 

 ■here are many important matters to 

 3e learnt even aboui " Common 

 rhiugs,'' and many facts concerning 

 hem that we do not understand. 



Travelling by rail one day with a 

 botanical friend, we remarked the 

 abundance of cowslips on the railway 

 banks and in the fields. ^' Yes," said 

 he, " they are very abundant here, but 

 after another mile you will find they 

 disappear altogether." And the fact 

 was so, Avhatever the cause might be. 

 Now in our opinion the occurrence of 

 the cowslip is not worth noticing in a 

 general way, yet this was a remarkable 

 fact, not only worth recording as such, 

 but deserving investigation and expla- 

 nation. In a former article we spoke 

 of our surprise at learning from the 

 examination of a collection of local 

 lepidoptera that the Common IMue 

 fP. Icarus), along with several other, 

 did not occur in the lludderslield dis- 

 trict Newman, in his remarks on the 

 distribution of tlie species, states that 

 it is not fouiul in the neighbourhood 

 of Halifax, and from the contiguity of 

 these places it may be assumed the 

 entire district is without it. Is this 

 an unaccountable eircumstance, or can 

 a reason be assigned for the fact? To 

 us it seems very strange, and we would 

 gladly publish an account of its cap- 



