NATURE NOTES 
2 [8 
In size the butterfly may have been equal to one and a half (possibly two) 
“ azures.” In colour it was dusky — almost black. On each side of the body 
was a largish patch of rich blue (not, I think, purple) ; but I do not remember 
whether this was on the hind-wing or the other. The patch of blue was, I think, 
longitudinal, not latitudinal, as in Barrett’s plate of Theda querdis. I am under 
the impression that the outline of the patch was not “ toothed,” but I am not 
now perfectly sure. The dale in which I found the insect was well wooded. It 
was in the middle of the road, and was perhaps feeble or injured. I did not 
capture it, but placed it for safety on the bank. 
Ashford, near Barnstaple, E. G. ALDRIDGE. 
September 12, 1902. 
Why does a Devil’s Coach-horse turn up his Tail ?— Why does the 
cocktail beetle, or devil’s coach-horse [Staphylinus oleus) turn up his tail and dis- 
charge a liquid when irritated ? Can the liquid do any harm, and in what way is 
it any means of defence ? Some defenceless insects have recourse to the expedient 
of pretending to sting although they have no such weapon. A male wasp will 
bend its body as if in the act of stinging, I am told, and so will a drone bee. Is 
the cocktail beetle’s turned-up abdomen a similar ruse — mere bluff? If it is he 
has succeeded, for many people give him credit for being able to “ sting,” and it 
is a not uncommon folk-lore belief that care must be taken not to be stung at the 
e.xtremities of the fingers or toes. 
Peterborough, W. H. Bernard Saunders. 
September 20, 1902. 
Caterpillars in Stems of Water-plants. — A small pond that I have 
visited is covered with reed mace, commonly, but incorrectly, called bullrushes. 
In these there were numbers of chrysalids of Nonagria typhce. The stem is 
tenanted by a single caterpillar, which causes so great internal injury that the plant 
could not survive the ravages of more than one. The perfect insects will soon be 
busy laying their eggs for next year’s generation. The moth probably flies from 
plant to plant, laying a single egg on each ; but as this is repeated by others, how 
comes it about that there is only one caterpillar in a plant, for the stems of the 
reed-mace are surrounded by water which prevents it from moving alx)ut ? And 
most internal feeding caterpillars cling to the home in which they were born. In 
the case of several eggs being laid on one stem, how do the caterpillars manage ? 
Do they kill each other? 
Market Weston, Thetford, Edmund Tuos. Daubeny. 
Azegust, 1902. 
Ants. — The ants which “R” finds swarming in his lawn this year have 
probably been there for many seasons, and have escaped notice from not being so 
active in their operations above ground in dry as in wet summers. We have had 
a good deal of rain the last week or ten days, and during that time the ants have 
been unusually busy. There are hundreds of little hillocks of earth thrown up by 
them all over my lawn, and the harder it rains the harder they seem to work. In 
dry weather the hillocks are dispersed to some extent by the wind in the form of 
dust. 
Market Weston, Thetford, ' Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
August, 1902. 
May in September. — This may-blossom was gathered at Moseley ; it 
seems somewhat absent-minded of the hawthorn to attempt a second crop so late 
in the (W-rfAa;//) summer. Have any other Selbornians found September May? 
Harborne, Stafordshire, Dora C. Sturge. 
September f), 1902. 
Albinism in Flowers. — I should like to ask whether there is any reason 
to think that on certain soils flowers of different species are more likely than else- 
where to have white flowers. We seem to have a good many white varieties of 
common flowers in this district, e.g., by our roadsides the sweet violets are white, 
with, I believe, scarcely an exception ; some 300 yards from this house there comes 
up annually a white Vida sepium ; in my garden appear annually sever.al plants of 
white herb Robert. There is white chicory in the parish, though I only know of 
