No. HO. 



#Iic MouiM Naturalist : 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



MAY 1 Ith, 1881. 



Vol. -2. 



TO OUR READERS. 



t /E Lave had several letters lately, 

 VY some of which urge us to give 

 tore notes of captures, aud others com- 

 lain that we don't have enough of 

 |iem ; yet, curious to say, with one 

 keption all these neglect to send us 

 heir own notes. In a former article 

 u the subject of "Captures*' we sug- 

 lested several reasons why their pub- 

 cation had dwindled down to records 

 If the capture of rarities only. The 

 lain advantage a weekly paper has 

 ver a monthly is that the former can 

 ive notices of capture, while they are 

 seful to other collectors, and the 

 »|ter can only do so to a very limited 

 xtent. There; are some people, of 

 ourse, who take in a paper to get 

 uformation , but who never contribute 

 ©ything to the general fund of 

 nowledge. But there are a much 

 arger number, who are not only 

 idling, but anxious, to give all the in- 

 ormation they can to all to. whom it 

 vill be useful : yet they have got out of 

 he way of recording their captures, 

 nd scarcely seem as if they could be 

 jot into it again. After we publish an 



article like this, several of our corres- 

 pondents at once tak<- the hint, and 

 for the next week or two we have a 

 j fair supply of " Notes, - ' t»ome con- 

 tinue to send whenever they have 

 anything of interest: others send once 

 or twice, and then fall off again —think- 

 ing perhaps that their communications 

 are not important enough, or getting 

 back into their old habit of recording 

 nothing. Some, perhaps, are afraid of 

 having their communications rejected, 

 or of sending notes of little or no inter- 

 est. But whatever the cause may b«' 

 the demand is considerably greater 

 than the supply. One of our corres- 

 pondents says, k ' It is the readers who 

 make the paper," but unfortunately the 

 Editors cannot compel their readers to 

 send their records. 



Last year a rather scarce noctua, 

 Aplccta occulta, occurred in greater or 

 less numbers almost all over the country. 

 We have no doubt, from information that 

 has reached us from various sources, it 

 was one of those appearances in 

 abnormal numbers that are always 

 occurring with one species or another, 

 and of whose cause we are utterly 

 ignorant. Very few records were made 



