KOTES AND QxJEElfiS. 



the present winter, but, I think, never with such little success. I have 

 really taken nothing worth mentioning. Papilio Machaon seems to be 

 disappearing, I remember the time (and that not so very many years 

 ago) when I used to take it in the very suburbs of Cambridge itself, but 

 I have not seen it lately. It may still be found in the fens, although far' 

 less plentiful than of yore. Argynnis Aglaia, A. Euphrosyne, and Thecla 

 hetulce are of general occurrence in this county, but I did not meet with 

 either of them last year. Melitcea Artemis and Hesperia comma I have 

 not seen at all of late years. A piebald specimen of the water vole 

 {Arvicola amphibius) was taken in the vicinity of a village near here last 

 September ; and a perfectly white mole {Talpa Europcea) was caught 

 about the same time and near the same place. — Albert H. Waters, 

 Cambridge. [I saw Papilio Machaori in abundance on Wicken. 

 Fen, Cambridgeshire, at the end of May, 1882.— G.T. P.] 



Lastrcea cristata. — Lastrcea cristata was, I believe, first found in York- 

 shire on Thorne Moor, by my now aged friend, William Casson, of Thorne. 

 I have a fine frond of his gathering from that station in my herbarium, 

 with the date of 1856 attached. He met with it, I believe, in consider- 

 able abundance. If Mr. John Hardy, of Manchester, found this species 

 on Thorne Waste before that date, my supposition with regard to Mr. 

 Casson being the first finder of the fern in Yorkshire, is, of course, a 

 mistake. — J. Backhouse, West Bank, York, Feb. 7th. 



" Where are the Insects ?" — I do not know if Mrs. Hutchinson, of 

 Leominster, has seen the Naturalist for December, but in a letter received 

 from that lady to-day, she adds a P.S. as follows : — " We are so over- 

 stocked with small birds — they rise in flocks of thousands— that all insect 

 life that they eat is cleared away. We rarely now see a butterfly or moth 

 here ; the last two years have been blanks." On the contrary, Mr. Bond 

 writes — I do not know where all the birds have got to. We rarely see 

 anything except sparrows and tom tits." I can only suppose that in the 

 latter case all the insect life at Staines has been eaten up, and the birds 

 have had to find fresh quarters. This idea seems strengthened by the 

 fact that the tits and sparrows have remained; the former are able to 

 hack their lurking prey from their holes, and the latter can subsist a 

 great deal upon household refuse. I should think the efi'ect of this in 

 time would be to drive the insectivorous birds entirely from the country. 

 — S. L. MosLEY, Beaumont Park, Huddersfield, Feb. 9th. 



We notice that a contributor to the February number of the E^itom- 

 ologist, writing from Upper Norwood, takes Mr. Mosley's view in 

 attributing the scarcity of insects to the increase of birds. — Eds. Nat. 



Epeira diadema and Salticus scenicus in Yorkshire. — Noticing records 

 of these species for Yorkshire at p. 84 of vol. vii. , induces me to mention- 

 that on the 3rd Sept., 1883, I took a specimen of Epeira diadema (female) 

 on a rock on the side of Ingleborough, about half-way up the mountain> 



