128
NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
rapidly over England, as it has done over the N.W. of Germany and over Hol-
land." Mr. Oldham's discovery of the species so near London as Woodford is
especially interesting, and it is a most welcome addition to the already rich list of
Epping Forest lepidoptera.—ED.
Lepidoptera at Woodford.—Mr. C. Oldham has sent us an interesting
list of Moths frequenting "sugared" trees in his garden in the Chelmsford
Road, South Woodford, in June, July, and August. Amongst the species were
Lucania conigera, Agrotis corticea, A. puta, A. saucia, Noctua C. nigrum, Cosmia
affinis and C. diffinis, and Cucullia umbratica. Catocala nupta came on July 7th,
which Mr. Oldham thinks remarkably early.—Ed.
Some Additions to the List of the Lepidoptera of the Epping
Forest District.—On looking through a collection of moths taken at sugar, at
Theydon Bois, by my nephew, Maurice Cohn, in 189:, I find a few not included
in my previous list (Essex Naturalist, vol. v , p. 153). The species to be
added are : Apamea gemina, Xylophasia rurea and X. hepatica, and Aplecta
advena. With respect to this last capture Cone specimen) it is of interest to note
that four out of the five British species of Aplecta are now recorded from the
Epping Forest district. I may add that Nemeophila russula, which was exhibited
by me as a Forest species at the meeting of the Club on December 29th, 1888
(Essex Naturalist, vol. ii., p. 267), should also be included in the list.—R.
Meldola, F.R.S., September, 1893.
Eucalyptus flourishing in the open in Essex.—The hardy Tasmanian
Gum-trees (Eucalyptus gunnii) the seeds of which were imported by me in April,
1887, are now all heights from twelve to thirty feet, completely defying English
winters, and flowering and seeding profusely. I have seen hundreds of young
plants raised from Essex-grown seed.—John Bateman, Brightlingsea Hall,
September, 1893.
The "Canker-Bloom" of Shakespeare.—All the authorities to which
I have access state that the Dog-rose was Shakespeare's "Canker-bloom," but
nowhere can I find any reason given for the assertion. I dare not impugn the
accuracy of the learned Shakespearean commentators, who seem all agreed upon
the point, but I should like to know if any of your readers can tell me why so
strange a name should be given to the flower. Is it only assumed that the poet
meant Rosa canina because that meaning would fit in so admirably with the simile
in the lines in the well-known sonnet ? :—
"The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye
As the perfumed tincture of the roses,
Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonly,
When summer's breath their masked buds discloses."
It has always occurred to me that a more obvious meaning for the "canker-
blooms" in this passage would be the red mossy galls (the " edeguars," produced
by Rhodites rosae, L.) which so often vie successfully with the brightest hues of the
flower :
" But, for their virtue only is their show,
They live unwoo'd and introspected fade,
Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so ;
Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odours made."
There is another passage in which Shakespeare mentions the "canker," in
"Much Ado about Nothing" : "I had rather be a canker in the hedge, than a rose