IGG 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



while to climb the many stairs, have a chat 



with the lighthouse keeper, and a look at 



the lantern, Lighthouses are famous places 



for birds and insects ;■ yet this, powerful as 



the light is, stands so close to the edge of 



the cliff, with its dark side to the land, that 



few insects have been obtained there. The 



best I ever got was Ellopia fasciavia, which 



is not very uncommon in soma of the fir 



woods a few miles away. From the gallery 



round the lantern we can see across the bay 



to the high Yorkshire land to the South, 



while Northward the beach recedes for a 



for a few miles till we reach Black H ill 



rocks, beyond which we can see Castle Eden 



Dene mouth among the sand banks, then 



rocks and sand banks, alternating to 



Seaham Harbour, Sunderlaid, and in clear 



days to South Shields at the mouth of 



the River Tyne. A glance at the lenses 



before we go down. How curiously they 



distort the images they reflect. Look here 



and you see the cows placidly grazing with 



their feet in the air and their tails hanging 



upwards ; there you see the sea quietly 



washing on to the moor, indifferent to the 



50 or 60 feet of cliff that intervenes, while 



as to our own faces, Burns must have been 



here when he said, 



" Oh would some power the giftie gie us, 

 To see ourselves as ithers see us." 



Yet he could not very well have been here 



either, for I don't think he ever got further 



South than Newcastle, and if he did, the 



lighthouse was not built. Leaving the 



lighthouse we cross the Town Moor Like 



most of places where children play, there 



are no flowers. The buttercups and daisies 



have been so regularly gathered that they 



never were allowed to seed, and have long 



ago disappeared. Close to the cliff, where 



it is protected by a railing, you may 



find the common scurvy grass ( Cochlearia 



officinalis), the stags-horn plantain (Plantago 



lanceolata), and on the few rocks that stand 



"like naked giants in the flood," separated 



will begin at the lighthouse, and it is worth 



from the shore, and quite inaccessible, 

 Thrift (Armeria vulgaris), and one or two 

 other salt-water loving flowers. There are 

 no insects on the moor. A white butterfly 

 may sometimes find it out, but it will look 

 in vain either for a flower, or a plant on 

 which to deposit its eggs. Yet in the herring 

 season the moor has produced some rare 

 insects. The fishermen have the privilege 

 at certain hours of spreading their nets to 

 dry, and upon these nets, fastened by the 

 claws on its feet, the Deaths Head Moth 

 (A. Atropos) has often been taken alive. 

 My first Convolvulus Hawk (S. convolvuli) 

 was got here, as well as C. celerio, and only 

 two years ago a fair specimen of D. lineata, 

 all of which are among the most highly- 

 prized treasures of my collection, The 

 lineata is only the second that has been 

 recorded in our Northern counties. Passing 

 along we come to the Fairy Cove, a small 

 inlet where some caves half-way up the rocks, 

 formerly existed, and were called the 

 Fairy Coves. The sea has washed them all 

 away, and but the name remains. We 

 now pass the old boundary where a wall 

 and gates once protected the inhabitants 

 from their northern enemies, and are now 

 in Far Well Field, so called from a well 

 that once was here, far outside the town.; 

 Alas ! this and much more is built up now. 

 Just beyond the borough boundary, where now] 

 are streets and houses, was once waste ground 

 where the Wood and Ruby Tigers abounded.! 

 Further on we come to the Throston Board 

 School, built on what in my early days wasi 

 our most convenient ground for capturing 

 noctuae at Ragwort flowers. Here the 

 first larva of D. galii I ever saw was found.,! 

 The larva of C. porcellus I also obtained 

 here after three weary nights search. Here, 

 too I first found the larvae of the Humming 

 Bird Hawk, M, Stellatarum one fine after-j 

 noon. My friend Mr. Gardner and I went, 

 out intending to find galii, which had been 

 found a few years before, and after a long, 

 search we found a larva that was new to us. 



