1889.] 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



83 



P. suffusella. Emerged in profusion from larvae mining leaves of Pop- 

 lar in August ; the mine has the singular appearance of a snail 

 having crawled over the leaf — Loughton. 

 C. lathy rifoliella. A nice series bred from larvse found mining leaves 



of Lathynis sylvestris in August, at Sandown Bay, Isle of Wight. 

 BUc. cidarella. A few bred in June from larvae found in September on 



leaves of alder ; they spun thin ribbed cocoons on the stems. 

 A.benneiii. Bred in July from larvae found eating the leaves of sea 

 lavender in May, the large pieces eaten out were a good guide as 

 to their whereabouts. Almost anywhere on the salt marshes 

 about Thames Haven. 

 Also a few good species of Pterophorus and a great number of species 

 of Lithocolletis and a few Nepticula, bred by forcing in the early part of 

 the season and with a few other species I find I have omitted, have 

 kept me pretty busy setting, notwithstanding the almost continuous 

 wet that has prevailed when the best collecting was to be done. 



Review. 



"The Naturalist in Siluria, by Capt. Mayne Reid."* 4 

 Captain Mayne Reid is well known for his interesting stories of 

 adventure, so deservedly popular among boys, and the present work 

 will not lessen his popularity among that section who have any taste for 

 Natural History. The title of the work has a foreign sound about 

 it, and leads one to wonder whereabouts in the world Siluria may 

 be. The scene of it, however, is in Herefordshire, near the city of 

 Hereford, where "Silurian strata exposed by upheaval" form the 

 surface of the land. The book is a pleasant gossiping account of the 

 "birds and beasts" to be observed in that neighbourhood, and includes 

 interesting notes on many of our rarer species. The observations on 

 the mole are of especial interest, as that subterranean animal has 

 been the subject of so many strange romances. Most of these Capt. 

 Reid explodes, devoting considerable time to the demolition of that 

 fabulous stucture, the " mole's castle." The author does not believe 

 in the mole as a benefactor to farmers. He asserts it will not eat 

 wireworms, and, whatever good it may do in bringing up soil from 

 below to the surface, is better done, in his opinion, by the earth worm 

 which forms the mole's favourite food. We cordially commend the 

 book to our young readers, though we doubt Capt. Reid will not suc- 

 ceed in proving that we have two species of the magpie in this country. 



* Swan, Sonnenschien & Co., 1889. 



