THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



339 



Costle and Lamb, 133, Salisbury Sq, Fleet St. 

 Nbw( astle-ox-Tyxe and . Gateshead — Geo. 



T. Miller, 23, Cromwell Terrace, Bensham, 



Gateshead. 



PLYMOUTH — G. G. Bignall, Clarence Place, 

 Stonehouse. 



West Hartleool — C. Hoggett, Church St. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



"Sir. G. T. Pokritt sends us larvae of A. 

 segetum and B. hirtaria for figuring, for 

 which he has our thanks. 



We have to announce that next week will ap- 

 pear the last (for a long time) of common 

 Ichneumons. Mr. Bairstow will sail on 

 August 31st, in the steamship " Balmoral " 

 for Port Elizabeth, South Africa, where he 

 will remain some time. He promises notes 

 for the Y. N, anil would be glad to hear 

 from any person interested in the ento- 

 mology of that district. His present 

 address is " The Cote, Healey House, near 

 Huddersfield." 



CAPTURES, NOTES, &c. 



Butterflies at Great Orms Head.— 

 On Monday last, the 2nd inst, the Great j 

 Orms Head at Llandudno was swarming with j 

 S. Semele, but owing to my not taking a net 

 I could only take one, I also saw a couple of j 

 V. urtica and a lot of P. rap,?. — G. F. 

 Wheeedox. Birmingham. 



Rooks Devouring Crane-flies. — For 

 several days a flock of rooks have frequented 

 some newly mown fields near to my house, 

 and wondering what they could be in search 

 of, I vesterday watched them attentively, and 

 was not long in discovering that they were 

 capturing crane-flies, which not only swarms 

 here, but does so in every other place I have 

 visited this season. The birds ran and jumped j 

 sometimes several f ^et into the air. By the j 

 erking of the head .vhen swallowing I could 

 ;ee when one was c iptured, and I found that 

 he number was about four evey minute for 

 me bird. There were about 300 of the birds 

 .nd they stayed for several hours each day, 

 o thus the quantity of crane-flies destroyed 



by them must have been enormous. — S. L. 

 Mosley, Pluddersfield. 



Vanessa uutice, at Thistles. — I was 

 standing the other day on a piece of waste 

 ground overgrown with Thistles, Dogdaisies, 

 &c„ and war- watching the various Butterflies 

 and Bees fb ing about. Vanessa urticce was 

 I very plentiful, and I noticed that though they 

 j were several species of thistle, about equally 

 abundant, it never settled on any but the 

 I common Carduus arvensis. They did not seem 

 to know the difference easily for they generally 

 fled to the nearest flower whatever the species, 

 and sometimes got very close to it before they 

 discovered it was the wrong kind. This 

 habit was the more noticeable, because the 

 flower of the spear head thistle, (Clanceolatus,) 

 as well as some large hybrid species were so 

 much larger and more attractive looking: 

 On the other hand, the humble bees, of which 

 a great many were about, unvariably fled to 

 the larger flowers, or to Weld (Reseda luteola.) 

 — Johx E. Robsox, Hartlepool, 



Captures at Kirkbride. — The following 

 are what I took at Kirkbride near Carlisle, 

 on August 7th, ; 7 »S'. Smclc, 4 5. Megara, 6 S. 

 Tithonus, ; S. Janira. V. urticae and P. napi 

 were swarminging. On a peat moss in the 

 neighbourhood I took several C. davits but 

 they were much worn and useless ; also a few 

 pupae and larvae of 5. earpini and larvae of 

 B. rubi and 0. Rotatoria were plentiful. I 

 noticed several cocoons of poti-toria full of 

 Dipterous pupae. I enclose one of the larva 

 whose name I have omitted above and would 

 be obliged if you would name it. — Gforgil 

 T. Miller, Bensham. Gateshead. 



^The larva sent is A crony eta menyanthidis t yta, 

 are sorry you did not pick up some of the 

 dipterous pupae for us. — Eds.] 



Cynide killixg bottle. — Referring to the 

 Editors' noto of Feb. 2S of Young Naturalist, 

 respecting the difficulty experienced in pre- 

 paring the " Cyanide Poison " for insects, it 

 may be interesting to the readers of the Young 

 Naturalist to obtain a good method of pre- 

 paring it, which I have always found 



