Short Notes and Queries. 



185 



perch on a tree ? We also found a cuckoo's egg in the nest of a green- 

 finch, built in a spruce fir 14ft. from the ground. A pair of cuckoos had 

 been seen there on a previous occasion. We were surprised to find the 

 egg in a nest so high from the ground. — Thomas Bunker, Goole, June 

 16th, 1879. 



Anomolon septentrionaU, Hlmgr. — I had the pleasure of exhibiting, at 

 the Yorkshire Union Exhibition, held at Leeds, an ichneumon which is 

 new to Britain. It is not included in Marshall's or the Brit. Mus. 

 catalogue, nor have I observed a record of its occurrence in France. Dr. 

 S. van YoUenhoven kindly named it for me. It is thus described in 

 j Holmgren's "Monograph of Anomolons ": — Anomolon septentrionale, 

 Hlmgr. — Nigrum ; ore, clypeo, orbitis et apice genarum, facie, macula 

 ad orbitas verticis ; et articulo primo antennarum subtus, flavidis ; abdo- 

 mine rufo, dorso apiceque late nigris ; pedibus anterioribus fulvis, apice 

 tarsorum in fuscato ; posticis maxima ex parte nigro-piceis, tarsorum 

 medio flavo ; valvulis terebrae palUdis. " '^Fem. long, circiter 3 lin." 

 Antennae with joint one yellow beneath. Thorax and legs with short 

 hoary pile. Legs : first and second pair coxae fulvous, segments, paler 

 towards the tip, which is dusky. Hinder pair coxae, blotched red, 

 trochanters fulvous, femora and tibiae rufous, apical segments darker, 

 tarsi fulvous, abdomen as broad as thorax, rufous, streaked on the top 

 with black, segments 5 — 6, very dark, aculeus sickly yellow, shorter than 

 first segment of abdomen, (fem.) Hab. Huddersfield, Yorkshire. — S. D. 

 Bairstow, Huddersfield, May 3rd, 1879. — Since writing the above, Mr. 

 W. H. Harwood, of Colchester, has kindly forwarded me pupae of E. 

 lariciata, infested ; these, to my astonishment and satisfaction, have 

 revealed veritable Septentrionale. Thus the insect is perhaps common, 

 but has been overlooked. It is easily distinguishable by its yellow 

 face, ovipositor, and thin limbs, but the size of body and abdomen is 

 very variable. I have not succeeded in breeding any male specimen as 

 yet.— S. D. B. 



Acronycta alni near Nottingham. — The larva of Acronyda alni, which 

 Mr. Watchorn, of Nottingham, found at Cotgrove in August last, came 

 out June 3rd a perfect specimen, and was exhibited at the Naturalist 

 Society's meeting, June 9th. — Joseph Brookes, Sec. 



I Caterpillars IN THE olden time. — It is frequently said that "what 

 ' is true is not new, and what is new is not true," but sometimes we meet 

 with statements that are neither new nor true. The following quaint 

 quotation is from an old folio Puritan dictionary, the sixth edition of which 

 was printed at London in 1678, and sold by Thomas Sawbridge at the 

 Three flower-de-luces, in Little Britain : — " Caterpillar : an hurtful 

 worm, eating the leaves, buds, flowers, fruits of trees, herbs, corn. It 

 maketh webs as spiders, wherein it wrappeth it self the whole winter, 

 reserving its pestiferous seed ; for it casteth certain eggs from it, whence 

 in the spring springeth a brood of many caterpillars. It's of divers 



