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NOTES.
Lathyrus tuberosus, L. in Sussex.—One of the few plants which Essex
botanists have fondly claimed as peculiar to our county must, it seems, lose that
title to our regard. Lathyrus tuberosus, the Peas Earth-nut, of which a coloured
figure is given in Gibson's "Flora of Essex," has been found by Mr. R. D. Postans,
"on the shingle beach at Eastbourne, in full bloom in the first week in August."
Mr. F. H. Arnold has some interesting notes on this plant in the October number
of "Science Gossip." He says:—"The locality in which the Sussex plant
occurs, i.e., the shingle beach at Eastbourne, differs greatly from that mentioned
by Gibson, viz., in several corn-fields and also along the hedgebanks and borders
of the same fields. The figure of this species as given in Gibson's 'Flora' is a
good one, with the exception of the leaflets, which are represented as ovate,
whereas they are obovate ; but truer to nature than either the engravings of Gibson
or Syme is the old woodcut of Gerard, headed 'Terrae glandes. Pease Earth-nut,'
while his verbal description, allowing for the absence of technicalities, is excellent.
'The Pease Earth-nut commeth vp with slender and weake stalkes : the leaues be
thin, and little, growing vpon slender stems, with clasping tendrels at the ends,
with which it embraceth and taketh hold of such things as stand neere vnto it:
the floures on the tops of the stalkes are like to those of Pease, but lesser, of a
purple colour, in smell not vnpleasant; in their places cometh vp long cods, in
which are three or foure round seeds : the roots be thicke, long, like after a sort of
acorns, but much greater, blacke without, gray within, in taste like to the Chess-
nut : out of which beneath doth hang a long slender string.' He mentions also
that by the Dutch, the curious tubers are called 'tailed mise, of the similitude or
likenesse of domesticall mise, which the blacke, round nuts, with the piece of the
slender string hanging out behind do represent,' and to a dead and shrivelled
mouse they have certainly a quaint resemblance. Gerard states that although this
plant is common in Germany, he had not heard of its occurrence in England.
[Gibson has an erroneous statement to the effect that Gerard mentions it as a
native of England.] In Holland it is stated to be used as an esculent. We have
now records of its occurrence in Essex and Sussex, but how it got to either of
these localities, so far distant from each other, has not as yet been accounted for."
Colias edusa at Woodford.—As this butterfly appears to have been rare
throughout the country during the past season, it may be interesting to note that
I caught a specimen (a male) on Woodford Green, on September 7th.—(Master)
William S. Argent, Broomhill, Woodford, Essex, October 6th, 1888. [The
"Clouded-Yellow" butterfly has been rare in almost all parts of England since
the great Colias irruption of 1877. I well remember the immense numbers of the
insects in the forest districts in August of that year. In a clover-field belonging
to Dr. Sewell, at Woodford Bridge, the butterfly swarmed in an astonishing
manner, and literally thousands might have been netted in a day. As the result of
three visits to this spot my brothers and myself secured twenty specimens of the
rare aberration "helice" of the female. The numbers of individuals of such
insects as Vanessa atalanta, V. io and V. cardui in and about that field almost
surpassed belief, and the spot presented a series of entomological pictures only
paralleled in my experience by some of the rides in the New Forest in 1875,
with their almost tropical garishment of hundreds of Argynnis paphia, Limenitis
sibylla and other handsome butterflies. Colias edusa still frequented the neigh-
bourhood until about the middle of September, and the last specimen noticed by
us was on the 27th of that month. Since that time the only living example I have
seen was one at Chingford, in August, 1886. The hundreds of thousands of the
butterfly which must have flown in Essex in August and September, 1887, utterly
disappeared at the end of the season, and left apparently no descendants to delight
our eyes in future years. We have had many summers to our senses quite as
suitable for the insect; the food-plant is grown in every parish ; and stock non-
sense about exterminating collectors cannot be imported into such a case as this.
Yet so far as I know only solitary sporadic specimens have been seen in the county
since the above mentioned memorable season. Few phenomena in the wonderful
world of insects are more mysterious than this sudden appearance and disappearance
of species of butterflies.—W. Cole.]