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NATURE NOTES 
other animals from Australian seas in their brilliant natural 
colouring. Every naturalist will find something to interest 
him or her. The exhibition is open until the 27th inst., and 
a varied set of lectures has been arranged for every Monday, 
Thursday and Saturday evening. 
Manchester Microscopical Society’s Lectures. — We 
have been asked to call attention to a list of lectures which 
the members of this Society are prepared to deliver before 
Natural History Societies. It includes seventeen lecturers 
and upwards of fifty subjects, and can be obtained from the 
Honorary Secretary, F. B. Cocker, 22, Filey Road, Fallowfield, 
Manchester. 
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 
The Need for Nature Knowledge. 
A West End shop has undertaken the agency for some 
specially mounted butterflies, of which a selection is now dis- 
played in the window. A relation of mine was present the 
other day when a schoolboy came in and said he would very 
much like to know whether the poisonous butterfly exhibited 
“bit” or “stung.” There seemed to be considerable doubt on 
the part of those in charge as to which was the case, but the 
answer given was that they thought that it bit. It was not until 
after the schoolboy had departed that it was suggested by my 
relative that the butterfly was poisonous when it was eaten, as it 
was one of those brightly- coloured insects which serve as the 
models in the well-known cases of mimicry, and advertise the 
fact that they are nauseous by their gaudiness. 
Wilfred Mark Webb. 
Odstock, Hanwell, W . 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
407. Animals and Plants in this Hot Weather.— The spell of 
hot weather has caused some remarkable results. Many birds have been driven 
away, from lack of insect food. Thrushes, starlings and tits have disappeared ; 
and as sparrows are in the cornfields, the sound of a bird during the daytime is 
rarely heard. Blackbirds, however, have made themselves unusually objectionable. 
So hard were they driven for food that they attacked everything in the shape of 
fruit long before it was ripe. They ate my plums when as hard as bullets ; until 
in desperation I picked them before they turned colour. Apples they served just 
the same. With the exception of two or three kinds of flies, which amount 
almost to a plague, the absence of insects in the daytime is very pronounced. 
Even the worst of all British insect pests, the aphis, appears to be starved cut, 
owing to the plants being too dried up to afford it means of sustenance. Snails 
are harder to find than in the depth of winter. Many trees and shrubs, notably 
