58 



The Naturalist. 



place. Going a little way to the left, we are soon on the narrow 

 peninsula. One of the first plants observed was the common ragwort 

 {Senecio Jacobcea), almost every plant of which was covered with the 

 beautiful caterpillars of the cinnabar moth (Euchelia Jacohce). The 

 flora is not an extensive one, but very pronounced in type, being almost 

 exclusively marine, and the few inland plants that occur are so eaten by 

 the rabbits as to be past identifying. Here, almost side by side, may be 

 seen Salicomea herbacea, Suoeda maritima, and Salsola kali. There are 

 few places where the mechanical influence of plants can be better 

 observed than here, for were it not for the subterranean stems and roots 

 of some half-dozen varieties of plants holding the sand together, there is 

 little doubt but Spurn Point would have been washed away long ago, for 

 the ridge at the top is in some places not more than 18 inches wide. The 

 most valuable of these plants for this purpose are Elymus arenarins. 

 Triticum jimceum, Psamma arenaria, Carex arenaria, 'Hippophae rham- 

 noides, Convolvulus Soldanella, and Eryngnmi maritimum, which are here 

 found abundantly. The following are selected from about 30 species 

 of birds seen, a few of which were shot by an enthusiastic member 

 of the party : — Little tern (Sterna minuta), a summer visitant which 

 breeds at Spurn, arriving in May and leaving in September ; herring 

 gull (Larus argentatns) ; ringed plover {^gialis hiaticula) ; common 

 wheatear (Saxicola cenanthe), a summer visitant, and local ; common 

 curlew {Numenius arquata), resident and local, and so shy and suspicious 

 as to have given rise to a saying in the Hebrides that To kill seven 

 curlews is enough for a lifetime " ; rock pipit (Anthiis obscurns) with nest 

 and young. This latter bird is said to be plentiful, but always solitary, 

 finding its food chiefly at and within high- water mark, where it runs with 

 remarkable ease along the sand ; its nest is made of b<^nts or other plants 

 growing near the sea. The choicest specimen seen or procured was the 

 Manx shearwater (Puffinus anglorum), which had flown against the light- 

 house the previous night and been captured by the keeper. Twenty-three 

 species of lepidoptera were observed, representing the following groups, 

 viz : — Diurni, Nocturni, Geometrse, and Noctuse, the rarest species 

 taken being the ly me grass moth {Tapinostola elymi). After a pleasant, 

 though rather heavy walk, the extreme point was at last reached. Here 

 we found a great quantity of Cakile maritima ; here also we refreshed 

 the inner man, then rounded the point, visiting the lighthouse people. 

 Two of us then made a very hasty inspection of the pre-historic kitchen 

 midden on the coast just opposite the village, but found nothing except 

 oyster shells. Evidently somebody keeps a very sharp look-out at this 

 interesting locality. 



Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological Society. — Meeting, Aug. 

 27th, the president (Mr. S, J. Capper) in the chair. — Mr. J. L. R. Dixon 

 read a paper entitled ^' A comparison between the structure and function 

 of the eyes in the various groups of insects," in which he described, with 



