334 NOTES—ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.
and on his starting back to his house, about a mile off in the wood, a lantern
was suggested. With this he set out, and, on arriving at a 40-acre wood, he
thought he would go down the main ride to his house. No sooner had he
shut the gate, which made some little noise, than he was surrounded by
numbers of woodpigeons, attracted by the light, which flew around him,
knocking off his hat. Having a stick in his hand, he struck at them for some
minutes, knocking a great many down ; but eventually had to beat a retreat
and go home outside the wood. Early the next morning he went to the spot,
and picked up 21 pigeons on the ride and close by. This seems to me a most
remarkable occurrence. I may add that my head keeper is a man of great
experience of animal life, and has never before seen or heard of such an
extraordinary thing. There are hundreds of woodpigeons here this year,
owing to the number of acorns. The darkness was so great that no light was
visible above or below except for a few feet."
INSECTA.
Rare Sphingidae in Essex.—When looking over the collections of Mr.
W. H. B, Fletcher, at Bognor, I came across two specimens which are worth
recording with a view to inclusion in any county list of Lepidoptera that may
be compiled. The first, Chaerocampa celerio, has the following inscription on
the label :—"Taken off a wall in Queen's Road, Upton Park, Essex, by a
working man named Bond, who gave it to the late Mr. W. C. Dale on
July 12th, 1883. Mr. Dale, then of Jeville Road, Worthing, gave it to me
[W.H.B.F.] in June 1888."
The other specimen is Deilephila galii labelled "Tottenham, July, 1859,"
from the late Mr. Howard Vaughan's collection. Tottenham is perhaps
hardly within the county but it is on the border,—(Prof.) R. Meldola.
ACARINA.
Black Currant Bud-Gall Mites. Phytoptus ribis.—This pest is
proving very destructive to Black Currants throughout the country and
the damage is becoming more extensive every year. Although it has been
known for over half a century, it is only within the last eight or nine years
that it has attracted so much attention. In Kent the Black Currant crop has
been much reduced of late years, and I hear of it from many places in the
West of England and elsewhere. I have also lately heard of several instances
in different parts of Essex where the Mite is very prevalent. The buds swell
up in late summer and autumn, and when they burst in the following spring
they grow for a short time only, and the result is that there is little or no
fruit. The Mite is a different species to that which attacks the Hazel and
causes the buds to swell in the same way. Two other species have a similar
effect upon the buds of the Birch and Yew. The greater part of their exist-
ence is spent inside the buds where they occur in thousands, and this consti-
tutes the great difficulty in destroying them, as no "wash" can get at them.
They are to a certain extent spread by birds, and bushes can also be attacked
through the medium of infected soil. I have lately been trying various
methods with a view to getting rid of the pest, including fumigation with
hydrocyanic acid gas. I have not up to the present time met with any