THE BOXING NATURALIST. 



195 



1 Lilac bushes. S. .Egeria is not nearly so 

 j common as it used to be. I remember lanes 



in Berkshire where it was once plentiful, but 

 jfor some years it has not been seen. A friend 

 [with me to-day took a female A. frodromaria 



on a Pollard Oak : a splendid specimen. 

 .Black vars of I). fagella were on many of the 

 [tree trunks. — John Henderson, Dalston, 



April 4th. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Sir. — Could you, or any of the readers of 

 the Young Naturalist, tell me whether the 

 Chiffchaff has a song, as stated in Morris's 

 British Birds, vol. iv, page 127, where it says, 

 " The song frequently heard overhead from 

 the upper part of some tall tree, and on one 

 occasion so early as the 5th of February, is 

 melodious and varied. - ' I have been ac- 

 quainted with this bird many years, but I 

 have never heard any song from it yet. 



Bradford. John Firth. 



We never heard the Chift'chaff attempt any 



song, except the two well-known notes ; 



have anv of our readers ? ] 



Sir. — In your wants of larvae for figuring I 

 see you want L. Cribrum ; I fancy you will 

 have to wait a long time before any are found 

 in dead thistle stems ; I fancy they are more 

 likely to be found feeding on heath, or perhaps 

 lichens or mosses at the roots of heath. The 

 locality should be Parley Heath, not " Paley." 

 You also say in " Lepidoptera for February " 

 you are doubtful if A. frodramaria emerges 

 before March. I have taken more than one 

 specimen in Richmond Park in February 

 when after N. hispidaria. E. lancstris we 

 would naturally think must be an abundant 

 insect, but though I may say I have seen 

 bushels of larvae, I have not seen half-a-dozen 

 moths except bred ones ; have you or your 

 friends ? In the case of C. Chamomillce I have 

 taken an occasional specimen in March, 

 April, May, June, and one two years ago so 



late as July, a very hue specimen. I have 

 bred it in April and May. We have had fine 

 warm weather all last week, but the week 

 before we had a good deal of rain and winds. 

 I have not yet been able to walk much, but 

 have seen a few of the early geometers flying 

 in the evening, and one fine Herald moth : I 

 caught it but let it go again : I could not 

 think what it was, it looked so large when on 

 the wing. — Believe me. Yours truly, 



Fredk. Bond. 



Staines. March 8th, 



Mr. Weiss asks two questions, which may 

 be very easily answered : one as to preserv- 

 ing small fish, and crustaceans, without 

 skinning. 



1 — II Mr Weiss will turn to pp. 48-52 of 

 " Practical Taxidermy," (which book I know 

 he possesses) he will find no less than five 

 different formulae, suited to his wants ; at p.p. 

 107 and 10S further information on the same 

 subject. Benzoline is also a capital medium, 

 for bottling " curios," so is Calvert's, No. 5, 

 Carbolic acid diluted as 50 to 1, Glycerine 

 also pure, or diluted. 



2. — Thomas Edwards learnt what he knew 

 by sheer painstaking industry, and concentra- 

 tion of all his faculties to one point. He 

 most certainly read all he could ; and what is 

 far less common, remembered what he read, 

 or what was imparted to him by others ; a 

 condition of mind earnestly to be cultivated 

 by all Young Naturalists. 



Thomas Edwards, was never what might be 

 called a scientific naturalist, but he was a 

 persevering collector, close observer, and 

 possessed a rare love of the ferae naturae of 

 his native land, lacking, in fact, only educa- 

 tion to carry him to the front. 



His life, as written by Dr. Smiles, is a 

 record of life-long triumph over disastrous 

 influences, lighted here and there by gleams 

 of transient beauty, too few, alas ! to com- 

 pensate anyone but a lover of nature, for the 

 dreadful struggles through which he passed. 



