212 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



[November 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Duck with a malformed bill. — Early in August last, I received 

 from my sister, in the Isle of Ely, a present of a fat, white duck, with 

 the upper mandible much shorter than the under one. I have had the 

 head mounted ; as for the prime parts, I can only say that they were 

 prime indeed, most toothsome in fact. Its deformity dated from its 

 birth, and any one would wonder how it managed to eat and live. Its 

 considerate owner conceived the idea of rolling its food into pellets as 

 large as cricket balls, and so the poor duck got some, by thrusting in 

 the long bill until the short one reached the victuals. — Charles Old- 

 ham, Woodford. 



Artificial bodies for Lepidoptera which are apt to grease. — 

 I often wonder why none of our enterprising Entomological dealers, 

 have not manufactured artificial bodies, for such insects as AlscuU, 

 Ligniperda, Amn dims, the genera Sesia, and Hepialus, Typhce, and in 

 fact all the larger and even smaller insects that grease. That it could 

 be done I am quite convinced, and it would save no end of trouble and 

 oft'-times failure, to simply take the body from the insect altogether 

 and substitute an artificial one of the same size and colour. Even if 

 the coloration of the wings varies considerably, that of the body does 

 not to so great an extent. With the Sesia I confess it would be difficult, 

 but these insects loose all the markings on their bodies very soon, un- 

 less stuffed, and this is not very easy to do well, and takes up a lot of 

 time. What is worth doing at all is worth doing well we know, other- 

 wise all insects which grease to any considerable extent have to be 

 stuffed, but an artificial body, if really well made, would look almost 

 as well as the real one when the insect first emerged, or certainly 

 much better than a greasy one, or a badly stuffed specimen. — A. E. 

 Hall, Norbury, Sheffield. 



Larvae beating near Warrington. — On August 16th I had my 

 first afternoon at larvae beating near here. I got nine leporina, three 

 dromedarins, ten camelina, eight pisi and commoner things. The next 

 Saturday I was not so successful, only raising three dromedarius, one 

 camelina, and a few pisi for the same amount of labour. I was loth to 

 leave and thought I would try to make up with Haworthii which was 



