THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



203 



away with the impression that there were not other collections that could be 

 •described in the same terms. Indeed there were many very excellent collec- 

 tions in London and the provinces, whilst in our own city that of Mr. C. S. 

 Gregson, had an almost world-wide reputation for its extent, number of species, 

 and most remarkable varieties. The Cooke collection, bequeathed to the city 

 by his late friend Mr. Nicholas Cooke, contained a long series of very rare 

 insects. Each collection had its peculiar charms for its possessor. As re- 

 garded himself, he valued his own the more because a considerable number 

 of the specimens had been captured by himself. The object of a public 

 exhibition was not to invite comparison with other collections, but to interest 

 young beginners and others, and show them what could be accomplished. 



The proceedings of the evening included a lecture by Mr. Councillor John 

 Thorpe, of Middleton, in which he dealt with the subject of silk practically 

 and exhaustively, giving much information on the subject in all its branches. 

 Mr. C. H. Walker (hon, librarian) afterwards read a paper, in which he 

 painted a very glowing picture of the pleasures to be derived from rural 

 researches among the insect tribes, and described graphically the habits of 

 some typical forms, including the hawk-fly, the humble-bee, the scarlet admiral 

 butterfly, and the grasshopper. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



LarVjE oe Galii on Willow Herb at Eisley Moss, near Warrington. 

 —On Sept. 22nd, while my father and I were beating a birch bush, for the 

 larvae of L. dictaoides, under which the rose willow herb (E. angustifolium) was 

 growing, he caught sight of a larva feeding thereon, which at first we thought 

 to be C. elpenor. On examination there proved to be too many spots, and 

 and differently situated for it to be C. elpenor. We hunted the plants to our 

 left for over an hour, but obtained no more. On September 23rd, I tried 

 the opposite direction to the one we hunted the day before, and took fourteen 

 larvae all at the same spot. On Sept. 26th, I went again and took seven more 

 larvae ; they were more scattered than on the last occasion. I may mention 

 that the willow-herb extends in one continual bed ; although I hunted the 

 whole of it, I got them all in about 50 yards. They evidently belong to one 

 brood, all of them when taken being nearly full-grown. The larvae is said to 

 feed on bedstraWj fuchia, and vine : I have not read of its being taken on the 

 willow-herb before. The larvae when obtained were black, with ten pale 

 spots near the top of the back, profusely sprinkled with minute yellowish 

 <lots, reaching from the spiracles as far as the pale spots. Head brown, anal 



