THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



73 



and 59 others realized £-2 10s. Lot 48 — 2, and Hera, 1 (Jersey), 

 brought £1/-. Lots 61, 62, & 63 — each containing 6 or 7 Impar, 2 yellow 

 Perla and others, brought £5 for the three lots. Lot 79 — 2 Sjjarganii sold 

 for £1 4s. Lot 97 — a single specimen of Hydrilla palustris said to be the 

 last capture, brought £1 17s. 6d. Lot 145 — Furcifera, 6, brought £1 12s; 

 while the next lot Furcifera, 3 and Lambda, 1, reached £1 14s. Lot 143 — 

 1 Gnaphalii brought 16/-. Cracca, in sets of 9 each, produced 10/- per lot. 

 Two Reticulata sold for 11/- and 13/-. These were the most notable lots. 

 Prices appear to have ruled very low on the whole. One lot (131) contain- 

 ing 1 Casia, 17 Albimacula, and 19 Conspersa, including 3 dark Scotch 

 forms, only brought 10/- ; while the next lot of 18 Irregularis, 16 Dysodea, 

 and 19 Serena realized no more. 



NATURE IN APRIL. 



By ALBERT H. WATERS, B.A., 



" Is there a heart that beats and lives, 

 To which no joy the spring-time gives ? " 



Bishop Mant. 



Nature is now beginning to wake up in earnest. We have passed the 

 vernal equinox, and the re-vivifying influence of spring is beginning to make 

 itself felt. The fast leafing woods resound with the melodious notes of 

 thrushes, blackbirds, and other feathered songsters, all of which have been 

 busy at work nest-building for some time past. If we take a country walk 

 about the middle of the month, we may expect to hear the song of the tit-lark, 

 and a week or ten days later if we ramble through the copse by the river-side, 

 we shall very likely hear the willow wren. If April is as it should be, a 

 ramble at that time is very enjoyable, and I would ask my readers to accom- 

 pany me on an imaginary walk. The sombre aspect which nature has worn 

 for some months past, when not white with snow, has given place to a bright 

 cheerful tint of green, for the trees and hedgerows are fast leafing. The 

 fields are no longer black with fresh ploughed soil, but verdant with the 

 young blades of corn. The sunshine is pouring down in floods of golden 

 light, and all nature seems to be rejoicing that winter's dreary reign is over 

 and bright spring-time has come. As we walk along, we see the bright- 

 coloured tortoiseshell butterflies enjoying the sunshine after their winter's 

 sleep, and other of their kin the peacock, the red admiral, the comma, and 



