Glacial Drift Deposits.—I was present at the Annual Meeting of the Union, and was sorry to see so much time frittered away against the good sense of the majority in discussing whether the obviously inadequate subscription of one pound annually per member should be increased to a sufficient sum for carrying on real work by the Union; while one of the most important subjects brought before the meeting, namely, Mr. Harrison's excellent suggestion, that the Societies should one and all take up and investigate, under proper regulations, the subject of the glacial drift deposits of the Midlands, was barely glanced at. Will Mr. Harrison be kind enough, in an early number, to point out what he recommends the Societies to do?—F. L., Shrewsbury,
Thirlmere.—Naturalists and lovers of the picturesque must be grateful to the House of Lords for rejecting the bill for the alteration of Thirlmere by the Manchester Corporation, although, doubtless, another and stronger attempt will be made next year to force the Bill through both Houses of Parliament. It so, I think some strung protest should be nude against the proposed scheme by all Natural History Societies. If the scheme be carried out, Juncus filiformis will be destroyed in one of its few English localities, and the most secluded. yet accessible, of our "hunting grounds" must be damaged most materially, not to mention other and more powerful objections against an unnecessary destruction of the peculiar charms of a district round which so many pleasant memories are entwined.—G. C. Druce,
Entomology.—I have often wondered how it is that so little space is devoted in the "Midland Naturalist" to Entomology, Botany seems the favourite science, but surely there are many points in Entomology which require elucidation, and I should think there must be, in various parts of the Midland Counties, original observers who have something to tell about the habits and peculiarities of insects of all kinds, which have not yet been recorded.—M. T. L., Leicester.
Death's Head Moth and the Spindle Tree.—On August 6th, 1877, whilst seated on the tail board of a pleasure van driving through a most lovely lane leading to the ancient "Friends' Meeting House," at Jordan's Wood, Buckinghamshire, (where the philanthropist, Wm. Penn, is buried,) I noticed a large larva feeding upon a shrub in the hedge. Jumping from the van, I soon gained possession of it, a most beautifully marked larva of the Death's Head Moth, (Acherontia Atropos.) The plant I had never seen before, so brought a good supply home with me, and though I enquired at the British Museum no one could tell me the name. and by a strange coincidence Mr. Fred Smith (of the British Museum) had a lava feeding upon the same plant, the name of which be had been unable to obtain. I set some of the twigs in my garden, and was much pleased to find it growing, and throwing out vigorous shoots and flower buds, which opened just in time for me to take down to Birmingham to show my old friend Mr. J. E. Bagnall; he at once recognized it as the the Spindle Tree, (Euonymus Europaeus.) I shall be glad to know if other entomologists have noticed Atropos feeding upon this rare plant—Fred. Enock, 30, Russell Road, London, N.
Organised Work for Scientific Societies.—Your correspondent F. T. L.'s suggestion is one which, it seems to me, should commend itself to the attention of all scientific societies which profess to have any regard for the working out of the Natural History of the districts in which they happen to be situated. Committees might be formed in each society, consisting of those who were prepared, and were deemed competent, to take part in the work. This would enable the workers in each department of science respectively to become acquainted, and to make arrangements as to the areas and the sub-divisions of the work which they preferred to undertake. It would also enable workers to arrive at more satisfactory conclusions. In Geology—for that is the only
