THE COLORADO BEETLE. 



(DorypTiora decemlineata.) 



How long is this excitement about the Colorado potato beetle to last? 

 Surely we have had enough of it. One would suppose that the evolu- 

 tionists had now proved their case, and that a new and distinct species 

 had been evolved. Or, has the beetle only just now taken a fancy to 

 see a little of the world, and is travelling to England for the purpose ? 

 Or, possibly, during the last twenty years they have eaten up every- 

 thing in America, and are consequently obliged to find " pastures 

 new ! " 



"We have never felt any alarm about this insect. We have no doubt 

 as many have been landed on our shores every year for a long, long 

 time, as in the present year, but as yet no very direful effect has 

 followed. It is very difficult indeed to introduce most species (though 

 of course there are several well-known exceptions) in any new locality, 

 even if only a few miles away from their natural habitat, although 

 they may be placed, to all appearance, in exactly similar spots, and 

 under the same conditions, and we doubt very much if the potato 

 beetle would exist here for more than a year or two, even if it were 

 attempted to introduce it. — Eds. Nat. 



RAEE PLANTS IN NORTH WALES. 



By James Backhouse. 



A WEEK or two ago, while staying in North Wales, I found a plant 

 of Woodsia ilvensis, on Cader Idris, with fronds far exceeding in size 

 the largest British specimen I ever saw or heard of. Many years 

 ago I gathered this fern in Teesdale, in the Clova Mountains of 

 Forfarshire, in Dumfriesshire, and on Helvellyn, but my largest 

 examples (including the original specimen from Teesdale, found first 

 in England by my father), do not exceed four inches in length. One 

 of the fronds of the Cader Idris specimen is 7^ inches long by 1^ inch 

 broad, a second frond is about 7 inches, and a third nearly 6 inches. 

 Have any of your readers seen a larger ? In magnitude it very nearly 

 equals the full size of the Norwegian plant. 

 N. S., Vol. hi., Sept., 1877. 



