68 
NATURE NOTES 
have hardly ever been trodden by the foot of a real Botanist, 
where I should suspect some rare matters may be discovered. 
The Gryllus gyyUotalpa will begin his jarring note next month, 
and is, as you well know, a most curious Insect. We have 
banks full of the Grylli campestres which make a prodigious 
shrill cry all the summer months. I discovered a Coleopteron 
the other day that smelt so very strong of musk that I could 
hardly come near the box that it was in. It was no Cerambyx. 
The Papiliones Rhamni and uvticce were very late this year. Of 
Bombylii we have had very fine ones ; but now they are over, 
being very early flies. The Mnsca meridiana is altogether as late, 
not coming, by my Journals, till Septemr. The Mnsca tenax and 
carnaria begin to appear. But I much want your information 
about the whame or barrel-fly of Derham (see physico-theology), 
that lays its eggs on the hair of the legs and sides of Horses ; 
and has nothing to do with stinging them. I do not mean the 
Hippohosca Equina that stings very severely, and runs sideways : 
we call it in Hants the forest-fly. I have a specimen of the 
whame-fly, but it was imperfect and had lost the generic dis- 
tinction ; so I can’t make it out in the Systema Natures, nor in 
Scopoli. 
As to summer birds of passage we have a good variety. I 
think I can show i6 or 17 species round the village; among 
which are three species of the Motacilla troehili. The vast large 
bats are beginning to appear, some of which I shall endeavour 
to procure. 
After wishing you good health and a great deal of success and 
satisfaction in your laudable pursuits, a prosperous voyage and 
safe return, I remain, with great esteem, 
Your most obedient Servant, 
Gil. White. 
Thomas Edward. — A correspondent writes as follows: — 
“Just a line to remind members of the Selborne Society 
that April 27 is the anniversary of the death of Thomas Edward, 
A.L.S., the Scotch Naturalist. 
“ Born on Christmas Day, 1814, he died in 1886, worn out, 
one may say, by his over-mastering love for Nature. I think 
he has left as good an example of what may be done by honest 
hard work against very long odds as any on record. 
“ I recommend anyone who wants a fresh, wholesome book 
to read his ‘ Life ’ by Smiles.” 
Wild Birds Protection Order.— We have received from 
the Home Office an Order, dated January 16, referring to East 
Suffolk, which protects all birds on Sundays to the east of the 
Great Eastern Railway line from London to Yarmouth, adds a 
number of species to the schedule, protects a number throughout 
the year, and extends the close time for all except Snipe and Wild 
Duck from the last day of February to September i. 
