116 



THE YOUNG- NATURALIST. 



is sure to be found sitting on the trunks of 

 small firs (which grow at the upper side of 

 the oak wood) anytime after the middle of 

 the month. It may also be beat out of the 

 dead fern and larches — or silver firs which 

 grow in the thick part of the wood, but then 

 one should beat while his friend uses the 

 net, otherwise it will likely prove " loves 

 labour lost." Do not neglect to tap gently 

 the low growing branches of any oaks which 

 have retained their leaves, amongst these 

 old leaves I have often rained a little cloud 

 ot Leucophearia by so doing. The single 

 trees growing in the park on the way from 

 the wood to Bromborough are good pupa 

 digging ground, the root forming little bays 

 between them in which the pupae lay, and 

 the student of Coleoptera may commence 

 work around here in earnest. Cicendclla 

 tzxmpestris flies on the warm sandy banks in 

 the lanes. Carabus catenulatus, C. granulatus, 

 C. nemoralis, and Leistus spinibarbus under 

 stones in and around the wood. Soricera 

 pelicornis is sure to be found, and Badister 

 bipustulatus by working near Stourton quarry, 

 and such like places. Chlanius nigricornis is 

 plentiful around Rabymere and Brooks, I do 

 not ever remember finding it in Feb- 

 ruary, and merely name it that someone 

 alse may ; once its green bronze hairy coat 

 is seen in the sunshine, it will long be 

 remembered as " a thing of beauty." 



The Neuropterist should now begin work 

 for the season, in every brook and pond his 

 game abounds, and is easy to collect. 

 Cases of Stegoptera and Phryganidce are 

 now to be got freely and the true Neuroptera 

 are walking about, house and all, in the 

 same places. All these may be bred at 

 home in aquaria. The few experiments I 

 have made quite satisfy me that we all have 

 a fine mine of unworked ore here to begin 

 upon, and I would remind any young 

 friends that the " early bird gets the most 

 worms." Whilst out let us give a good 

 word for the Hemiptera, some of these 

 singular and almost unknown (in their 



transformations) bugs of the field may be 

 found now under dead leaves or stones, 

 among moss, in gorze bushes, under bark, 

 in fungi, anywhere- — everywhere, most of 

 them immature, some of them offensive to 

 the olfactory nerves, some of them smell 

 agreeably, some are without smell, some 

 now look like beetles, which in the course of 

 a few weeks will assume the peculiar form 

 of wing which gives them their name. 

 About all we want information, facts, little 

 things collected together to enable some of 

 the young men amongst ourselves to build 

 a structure with which to do honour to this 

 town, perhaps to our country. 



Now is the time for collecting the night 

 feeding larvae, just as the buds of the white 

 thorn are swelling at the base of warm 

 hedges in every sheltered corner, numerous 

 larvae may be found creeping out at dark, 

 and through the night. As the month 

 advances, they eat the buds, grow, and 

 become more numerous, and may be seen 

 spread all over the hedges on the highest 

 and outermost twigs, as well as below. In 

 this way many species which can rarely be 

 got by any other means may be collected in 

 plenty — thus, N-octua triangulum, which I 

 have never seen at sugar, and only once or 

 twice at flowers, I and my friend Sergeant 

 Johnson bred freely by picking our larva^ 

 from the hedges or cops in our lanes around 

 Old Swan and Aigburth, and Mr. Wilkinson 

 showed me many larvae so collected around 

 Fir Grove and Knotty Ash. 



(To be Continued). 



ORIGIN OF THE MINUTEST 

 FORMS OF ANIMAL LIFE. 



(Continued from Page in,) 



The lecturer then said : For the observations 

 to be of any use they must be continuous, in- 

 terrupted observation is wor-e than useless 

 because it is misleading, and as it might he 



