114 emission of scent by a deltoid moth.
had recovered and was fluttering on the pin, the fans being then
folded and hardly visible. On giving the moth a pinch under
the thorax in order to kill it the fans were suddenly thrust out and
expanded, and it instantly occurred to me that the opportunity had
arrived for testing the truth of the view which I had long held but
of which I had hitherto obtained no direct evidence. I lifted the
moth by the pin and immediately smelt it, when a strong odour of
jargonelle pear was perceptible. I passed the insect without delay
to my friend Mr. E. Boscher, who was with me at the time, and he
also distinctly recognised the smell. The satisfaction of thus verify-
ing an idea which had been dormant for six or seven years will be
appreciated by readers of the Essex Naturalist. I may add that
the odour disappeared in the course of a few minutes.
This observation seemed to me of sufficient interest to be placed
upon record. Not only does it confirm the suggestion as to the
functional value of the organ in question, but it gives a hint which is
not without value to physiology, with respect to the nature of the
odoriferous product. The odour perceived is a very familiar
one to chemists, and is well-known to pertain to amyl acetate, this
ether being used for the preparation of artificial pear essence. As
far as odour can be taken as a test of identity, I should certainly have
no hesitation in expressing the belief that the scent diffused by this
little deltoid moth is amyl acetate.
Food of the Ring-Dove (Columba palumbus).—On May 10th I shot a.
ring-dove whose crop contained no less than 1,840 green seed-pods (with the calyx
attached) of Veronica buxbaumii, It is interesting to note the variations in the
diet of this voracious bird. A week or two ago their favourite food was the shoots
of peas, especially the sweeter kinds grown for picking ; before that they had to
content themselves with the leaves and crowns of white and red clover, double
handfuls of which might be taken out of some of their crops. In the winter their
food consists largely of turnip-tops, cabbage, kohl rabi of which they are very
fond, ivy berries and the small tubers at the root of Ranunculus ficaria. They
also glean the stubbles and young clovers for corn shelled out in harvest time, and
I have counted 620 kernels of barley iu the crop of a ring-dove shot off a clover
ley in midwinter. In a few weeks they will begin to eat the flower heads of
charloch (Brassica sinapis), and they have already attacked the seeds of the witch
elm (Ulmus montana). In the autumn they swallow acorns and cram their crops so
full of them that on falling to the ground they burst and scatter the acorns all around
them. Ring-doves are becoming one of the greatest of nuisances to the farmer, doing
even more damage than rooks.—Reginald W. Christy, Boyton Hall, Roxwell.
A Bee's Nest in a Jacket Pocket.—A man named Gill, employed at
Foote's Farm, Great Burstead, held by Mr. Philip Cole, recently found that a bee
had domiciled itself in the pocket of his jacket which had been hanging in a
shed upon the farm. The pocket also contained a piece of honeycomb and a
large number of cocoons from which the young bees were just emerging.—"Essex
County Chronicle," July 27th, 1888.