162 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



Mr. Tamer, a var. of Vanessa cardui } an example of the female Fidonia 

 atomaria with a pale fringe, and specimens of Pieris napi, and asked whether 

 the absence of spots in this species was unusual. Mr. Weir in reply said, it 

 was not at all unusual in the spring emergence. Mr. West, of Greenwich, 

 examples of Colymbetes notatris, Cercyon aquaticus, Heterocerus obsoletns, 

 taken on the Salt Marshes, Milton, near Gravesend. The Secretary exhibited 

 on behalf of Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell, a sketch of a Thomisid spider on the 

 flowers of Ligustricum montanum, observed by him in Custer, Co. Colorado, 

 and read notes on the deceptive likeness of the spider to the flower. Mr. 

 Weir said it was not at all uncommon in England, there were several species 

 of spider closely resembling the flowers on which they were in the habit of 

 sitting for the purpose of obtaining their food. The Secretary also read a 

 further note from Mr. Cockerell on the white pigment in the Sesiidse, but as 

 the specimen of S. culiciformis referred to, had not yet been exhibited, it was 

 decided to read the note at a subsequent meeting.— H. W. Barker, Hon. 

 Sec. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



The Oak as a Window Plant. — I thought the following might interest 

 some of your readers. Four years last antumn we brought in an acorn. It 

 was moist, and just ready to sprout. It was put into a bottle filled with 

 water, the acorn just filling the neck of the bottle but not touching the 

 water. It put down roots through the winter, and in the spring put out a 

 few leaves. This it has done every year, this, of course, being the fifth it has 

 done so. It has two now branches from the main stem, and is seven and a 

 half inches high at the highest. — Isabel Robson, Stockton-on-Tees. 



Abundance of certain species of Lepidoptera during the month 

 of June. — Both Vanessa cardui and Plusia gamma have been very abundant 

 in Dorsetshire. By far the greater number of the former were worn and 

 tattered and evidently had the appearance of hybernated specimens. Strange 

 to say, I saw but one specimen of V. cardui during the whole of last year, 

 although V, urticce swarmed in J uly. 



Anthocaris cardamines has also been very abundant and later than usual. 

 I captured a female on the 14th of July. In Dorsetshire the females have 

 been almost as common as the males. In fact, almost every white butterfly 

 I have seen this year has been a female Orange Tip or a Wood White. The 

 latter (L. sinapis) has certainly appeared in very unusual numbers, not only 

 in woods but by the road sides. On the other hand, the species of the genus 

 Pieris have been very scarce. 



