216 
NATURE NOTES 
be found, flourishing and well-grown in many cases, but not in any considerable 
numbers. Right in the village of Braemar a dark copper beech is a conspicuous 
object. 
Of the earlier woodlands of the Cairngorm mountains evidence may be seen 
in the tree remains found in peat-mosses and on the bare hill-sides at an elevation 
where trees do not now seem able to maintain existence. Burnt wood frequently 
occurs underneath moss and tree-roots, and bears witness to the primitive and 
wasteful methods by which the earlier inhabitants cleared the land. The course 
of time has brought about the present-day demands for re-afforestation, but “ that 
is another story.'’ 
October lo, 1907. Hugh Boyd Watt. 
572. Catalpa. — The fine Catalpa in New College Gardens, Oxford, was 
in full bloom on September 23, though some of the blossoms were beginning 
to fade. Has your correspondent noted the two large Catalpas on the West- 
minster Embankment? Could you help towards a concerted movement amongst 
local authorities for the planting of more trees like the Catalpa and Ailanthus, 
which do so well in London? C. H. G. 
573. Con'YOl'Y'Ulus. — I have noticed very much this month the exceptional 
beauty of Convolvulus major, both in size and colour. Some growing in this 
immediate neighbouihood over high hedges, which in previous years have been 
pure white, this month are of a most exquisite colour, either a pure mauve, or 
of mauve and pink combined, and all of unusual size. This must be one of the 
effects of this exceptionally beautiful and hot September. 
5, Fallester Road, Bath, Harriet G. Olive. 
September 28. 
574. Late Appearances. — The abnormal warmth of September may 
account for the appearance of the early summer and spring flowers in the country 
at the present time. I gathered on October 13, at Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, a 
dog violet and a ripe wood strawberry (both in perfect condition) and on the 
same country walk found Herb Robert, Horehound, Nettle-leaved Bell-flower, 
Agrimony, Erodium, Field Scabious, and St. John’s Wort. Covering a stream 
near Goodwood, West Sussex, on September 20, I observed both kinds of water 
Ranunculus, aquatilis and hederaceus. A thrush’s egg was found in a garden 
in the same locality, whilst the Blackbird’s note was heard early morning and 
evening about the same date, giving quite the illusion of spring, which was added 
to by the appearance in the garden of a brimstone butterfly. I never remember 
seeing one so late in the season before. 
<^,Park Crescent, Brighton. E. M. NICHOLSON. 
October 14. 
NATURAL HISTORY QUERIES. 
134. Parasitic Plant Growing on Caterpillar. — I have had a very 
curious specimen brought to me from New Zealand, a dried caterpillar about 
2^ inches long with a dried plant, 6 inches long, growing from its head. The 
donor, who is no naturalist, can only tell me that it is a well-known phenomenon 
in New Zealand, the seed taking root in the caterpillar, and feeding upon it 
till the latter dies. I am anxious to know a few more particulars: — Whether 
only a certain variety of plant can grow thus, and if only on certain species 
of caterpillars, and the names of both, and also whether the seed falls on to the 
caterpillar or is eaten by it. I am told these specimens are not very common 
now. They are generally brought in by the Maoris. 
Llanbedr, Vale of Conway. Angela Brazil. 
[The “Vegetable Caterpillar” has long been known, though we are still in 
want of a certain identification of the moth or moths to which the caterpillar 
belongs. It was formerly erroneously referred to CEnetus (Hepialus) virescens ; 
but the larva of that species is not subterranean as is the caterpillar in question. 
It has more recently been referred to Borina A/airi ; but as this is a species the 
only known specimen of which has been destroyed, it is an unlikely source for 
so common an object. More probably the caterpillars — or some of them — are 
