120 



The Naturalist. 



the sea coast as my lord has in the covert. If he wants the birds to malse 

 money of, he has the same right as the fisherman who catches two or 

 three hundred herrings per day. There is no moral law to interfere and 

 say the birds do not belong to him. Before any Protection Acts wero 

 thought of, I have often heard my father say that he could never see the 

 birds get one less. I have very little space left to reply to Mr. Carter. 

 He does not seem to know that the fly which flies in the air has anything 

 to do with the caterpillar. The only difference it would make to my 

 calculation is, that the caterpillar may only produce one fly, but the fly 

 would produce hundreds of caterpillars if permitted to live. Mr. Carter 

 tries to ridicule my statement of a pair of small birds destroying 600 

 caterpillars per day during breeding- time. The calculation is not mine, 

 but is recorded by an eye-witness. It would have been more to the point 

 if I had said insects, but every intelligent person must see that this was 

 ir>tended ; and I should think a single tit or creeper will destroy more 

 than that quantity itself when searching for insects' eggs, &c,,inthe 

 crevices of bark, — S, L. Moslev, Beaumont Park, Huddersfield. 



Transactions of the Barnsley Naturalists' Society. — Mr. T. 

 Lister wishes us to state that the title of his paper, as sent to the editor 

 of the " Transactions" {Nat. ix., p. 104), was "Birds of the Barnsley 

 and South West Yorkshire District." This title accords much better 

 with the contents of the paper. 



The " Report of the ' Local Scientific Societies' Committee ' of 

 the British Association." — It is clear, from the report before us, that 

 the committee have fully and thoroughly accomplished the work they 

 se-* out for themselves in 1 882. They tell us they "have communicated 

 with all the societies known to them which appear to fall under the desig- 

 nation of " local scientific societies which publish their proceedings,' 

 giving to this definition a somewhat liberal interpretation, and they 

 submit a tabular list of these societies, with notes of their publications 

 and other particulars. They are about 170 in number, and seem, from 

 their rules and publications, to be centres whence local scientific inform- 

 ation may conveniently be obtained." This list of societies is the most 

 striking feature in the report, and cannot fail to be as useful as it is 

 interesting. It is brought up to November, 1882, and besides the full 

 title of each society is given the head-quarters or name and address of 

 the secretary ; the number of members ; the amount of the entrance fee 

 and annual subscription ; the title and size of its publications ; the 

 frequency of issue, and other remarks. V/e are sure the committee could 

 not possibly have done their work better, and we have perfect confidence 

 that it is the beginning of much useful work in future years. 



Correction. — On page 103 of the last number of the JSJatnralist, in the 

 sixth line from the top, the word " snipe " has been printed in error. 

 Instead of " snipe," read " swift. "—Thomas Carter. 



