THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



69 



from the flooded space will be found, the 

 only difficulty being what to reject. Well, 

 dont reject anything you are in doubt about. 

 Take a good-sized bottle, half full of bruised 

 laurel leaves, with a quill inserted in the 

 cork, and drop all your captures into it to be 

 examined on wet evenings at home, at leisure 

 during next month or so, and you will have 

 more pleasure in throwing useless specimens 

 away than in regretting you did not take 

 more of that doubtful species. Perhaps I 

 ought not to occupy space with remarks of 

 this kind after eleven months practice by our 

 young friends, but I shall never forget the 

 remark of my old friend, H. T. Stainton, 

 when excusing myself for not relating a 

 circumstance I thought so well known as not 

 to require notice, he said, " he preferred 

 hearing a fact twenty times to never hearing 

 it ;" and hoping some of our young friends 

 are " Staintons " in embryo, let me also hope 

 they will excuse the digression, and that as 

 the year is ended and our monthly notes 

 completed for the year, let us say, -airs well, 

 that ends well." 



THE FOUR SEASONS: 



A Story from the Book of Nature. 

 By Lucv Fkkn. 



Chap. V. 

 A NIGHT AT SALLOWS. 



The day had been warm, a steady breeze 

 had blown from the south-west, and the 

 western sky was tinted with red and yellow, 

 as one evening in the middle of April, as 

 John stepped up the garden walk, and was 

 met at the door by Spring, who gave him a 

 hearty welcome. 



" I am glad to see you, John, you have 

 selected a good night, and I anticipate 

 success among the moths. I have all ready- 

 in this bag, so we may as well start at once." 



John took the bag, and the two walked 



; leisurely along. It was quite dark when they 

 | arrived at the edge of a wood, where sallows 

 grew plentifully. Spring took from the bag 

 a lantern, and lighting it, selected one of the 

 trees with plenty of fine yellow catkins upon 

 it. She then took out a large white sheet, 

 and spreading it out under the catkins, in- 

 structed John to give the tree a smart shake. 

 Tap, tap, tap went one thing after another 

 upon the sheet, and then Sprint, turned on 

 the light to see what had fallen. Many of 

 them were old withered catkins, but here 

 and there a moth sat quietly upon the sheet. 

 Some small chip boxes were immediately 

 brought from the bag, one moth consigned 

 to each. 



'• Well ; this is capital sport. Spring. I 

 think we have got all, I don't see any more." 



" Wait a bit, we must fill that tin with these 

 old catkins, there will be some caterpillars in 

 some of them, and these in time will produce 

 some nice moths." 



" But how will you keep them alive ? " 



" Oh, we need only put them in a wide 

 mouthed bottle, or in a tree-pot covered with 

 apiece of glass," answered Spring, "and 

 they will be all right, if we give them catkins 

 to eat." 



Tree after tree were shaken in this manner, 

 and the catkins on the low hushes were ex- 

 amined by means of the lantern. Here 

 and there would be seen two fiery eyes, with 

 an uncoiled proboscis deep in the floral cup, 

 sipping the sweet nectar; a geometric cater- 

 pillar would be seen looping along one of the 

 branches ; or a tiny weevel regaling himself 

 along with his larger cousins. 



" I rather like this kind of sport, Spring," 

 said John, after the work was over and the 

 two were on their way home. 11 I could not 

 have thought there was such fascinating ex- 

 citement about it ; the continual expectation 

 of getting something different, it must be 

 entertaining in the highest degree to those 

 who know the things at sight. I shall be 

 glad to come with you again. 



" Yes. it is grand sport allow 



