70
NOTES.
between August 30th, 1831, and March 2nd, 1846, to the late Mr. T. C. Heysham,
of Carlisle, and kindly lent to me by the representatives of the latter gentleman
In one of these letters, dated August nth, 1841, I read as follows:—"Since I
last wrote, the weather has been much the same as for some time past. Last
night and this morning it rained very fast, and about three fourths of an inch of
rain fell. It is also very windy. So many wet evenings are a hindrance to my
captures of Lepidoptera, but I go out every night that is at all tolerable. By
taking some sugar and water and brushing it on the trunks of trees, or sprinkling
it on the bushes, you attract an immense number of moths, and about an hour
after sunset they remain quite quiet, and with a light you may select what you
want. Last night, although raining, I saw scores of Nocture." From this it
appears that, not only had the idea of sugaring occurred to Henry Doubleday, but
that he had also actually put it into practice with considerable success at least two
years before the date at which Mr. English tells us he himself originated the
method. Moreover, I cannot find in the letters written in 1843 any mention of
"sugaring," except one, which shows that as early as March 17th Henry Doubleday
was practising this method of taking insects much as a matter of course, for he writes,
"Just after I had sent my letter to you on Friday night, I went down our field to look
after moths on the sugar, and was surprised to see the tail of a comet of immense
length." This was before his visit to Paris, whither he went on July 21st, returning
to Epping on the evening of August 2nd, having thus been away only a few days.
Further than this, however, I find in the "Entomologist" for October, 1842
(vol. i., page 407), a note of Henry Doubleday's, stating that in the previous
August he had taken two specimens of Polia occulta, "both sucking sugar which
I had placed on the trunks of some trees to attract moths" ; while in the
"Zoologist" for the following year (vol. i., page 201) appeared a communication
from Henry Doubleday, entitled, "Note on the Capture of Nocture with Sugar in
the Autumn of 1842 at Epping." This note is dated May 31st, 1843—nearly two
months before he went to Paris. I think, therefore, that the late Mr. English
must be unhesitatingly pronounced in error; and although the error is not
one of great scientific importance, still I think it is well to have it corrected. It
merely transfers the honour of having originated this now-well-known method of
taking insects from one prominent Essex Naturalist to another. In connection
with this subject, the following note by Edward Doubleday will be of interest. It
appeared in the "Entomological Magazine" (vol. i., page 310), and is dated
"Epping, November 21st, 1832." "Singular Mode of Capturing Noctuae.—
I would recommend to your readers a plan by means of which I have captured
many good Lepidoptera, as will be seen by the list I send herewith [69 species
named]. It is simply to lay a sugar hogshead which has just been emptied (and
to which, of course, some small quantity of sugar will still adhere) in an open
space near a garden or field. In the course of a night or two, it will be
visited by numbers of Nocture, amongst which will not unfrequently be found
some of the rarer species. The Nocture continue to visit it, particularly on
moist evenings, as long as it retains any saccharine matter."—Miller
Christy, Chignal St. James, March, 1888. [Mr. Christy has certainly pointed
out a serious discrepancy in the two statements, and the lamented death of
Mr. English renders it now impossible to clear up the difficulty. We feel sure,
however, that the error was merely one of date. Mr. English wrote from
memory; and supposing that his first experiments in the use of "sugar" were
made during one of Mr. Doubleday's absences from Epping, it is perfectly easy
to see how the blunder might have arisen. Knowing that Mr. Doubleday was
away at the time, imperfect recollection may have connected that absence with the
historical visit to Paris, and the period of the latter event being known, an erroneous
date was thereby assigned to the "First Night's Sugaring in England."—Ed.]
A White Blackbird.—Mr. Spells, of the "Red Cow" Inn, Shelley, has in
his possession a fine specimen of a white blackbird. It was taken from a
blackbird's nest in the immediate neighbourhood by one of the workmen engaged
on the new church. Although there were several other young birds in the nest
this was the only white one.—"Essex County Chronicle," June 15th, 1888.