NATURE NOTES 
i 8 
On the underside of a leaning charred trunk was found a patch of small white 
eggs affixed to the ends of long hair-like stalks, perhaps the eggs of that same 
species of chrysopa or lace wing of which the grotesque larva was recently described. 
Many creatures in the bush of widely different structure and habits are attacked 
by a small red acarus or mite, which goes everywhere with its host and does 
not seem to cause inconvenience. Thus our common brown lizard which is 
seen so often sunning itself upon logs and tree trunks, very frequently carries a 
mite at the joint of each fore leg with the body, and the small scorpions which 
are frequent under decaying wood are often adorned with a whole galaxy of these 
little red acari. Several beetles are also subject to their attentions, including the 
reddish-brown curculios which sit astride the edges of gum leaves ; and to-day a 
tiny black ichneumon fly, only one-eighth of an inch in length, was seen on the 
sunny side of a young eucalyptus tree with one of these red mites clinging 
to it. 
Novemher 12. — A nest of the “ superb warbler ” ( Malurus Gouldi), or as we 
generally call it the “ long-tailed wren,” was discovered on the ground among 
dead bracken, and so artfully concealed that had the hen bird not been frightened 
at my passing so close and flown out just in front of me, I should never have seen 
her nursery. This nest was woven chiefly of dry grasses, and was very large 
compared with the architects, and of a somewhat oval shape, with the entrance 
near the end. It contained three tiny pinkish-white eggs, dotted with red at the 
larger end. 
November 15.- — A nest of the “bush tit” (Sericornis humilis), or as we some- 
times style it the “ short-tailed wren,” was found in a large tussock, fixed to 
several of the long blades. This nest, like that of malurus, is very bulky for so 
tiny a builder, the bird being even smaller than the “long-tailed wren.” The 
structure is of dry grass and bits of fern woven together, with an opening in the 
side about large enough to admit one’s finger, and running horizontally for a 
little, then straight down. Three tiny nestlings lay in warmth and comfort at the 
bottom of this snug domicile. 
November 16. — In a bush-garden about half a mile away, one of the spiny 
lizards rejoicing in the appellation “ blood-sucker,” but called by scientists 
“ Amphibolous muricatus,” was observed to scratch a hole in the loose brown 
soil, deposit therein four leathery eggs, then fill up the hole again and depart, 
leaving the eggs to be hatched by the heat of the sun. 
II. Stuart Dove. 
The Union of the Seasons in North Devon.— As indicated by wild 
plants, the four seasons of the year are now in union in the country around 
Barnstaple. The following representative flowers, picked on the 13th and 14th 
inst. (with the exception of the first mentioned, which was gathered on the 8th), 
are now in my room -.—Petasiles fragrans, Vinca minor, Mercurialis perennis. 
Ranunculus ficaria, Primula vulgaris, Viola odorata (white), Veronica 
chamcedrys. Geranium columbinum, Geum urbanurn, Brachypodium sylvaticum 
(variety pubescens), I.onicera periclymenum (young whorl, somewhat damaged 
by gale and rain, hut still fairly good), Stachys belonica, Picris cchioides. Inula 
conyza, and Iledera helix. 
Edward G. Aldridge, F.G.S., F.R.Met. Soc. 
December 15, 1897. 
P.S. — Cal/ha Palustris was seen on October 4, and Po/entilla replans on 
December 6. 
