ace for that purpose. Its attitude in this situation much resembled
that of a woodpecker. One that was kept alive with its wing broken sat
across the finger, like another bird. When about to take flight it makes
a cracking noise, as if the wings smote together, after the manner of
a pigeon.

_Harbingers of Spring._--One of the earliest intimations of approaching
spring is the appearance of the _Phalaena primaria_, and of one or two
other moths, floating with expanded wings on the surface of ponds and
still water. A butterfly, _Caltha palustris_, is commonly drawn forth
from its winter quarters by one of the first warm and sunny days that
happen to occur in the month of March: hence it has been termed _fallax
veris indicium_, (the deceitful token of spring.) In the Isle of Wight
it has been seen on the wing the 8th of January, 1805.--_Rev. W.T.
Bree._

_Ravages of the Beetle_.--Mr. Bree describes the _Scarabaeus
horticola_ as "exceedingly destructive in gardens. Being on a visit
in Staffordshire, in the month of June, I observed whole beds of
strawberries (not hautboys) likely to prove nearly barren, though they
had flowered copiously, and the season, was favourable for a crop. I was
informed that the failure was owing to the fernshaws (the provincial
name for the beetle), which are accused of eating the anthers and
interior parts of the blossom. In the same garden my attention was also
called to the ravages committed by this depredator on the apples, by
gnawing holes in the young fruit; which consequently dies and falls of,
or at least becomes much blemished. I was assured that the fernshaws had
been detected in the fact; and I am rather disposed to think that the
charge in both instances is well founded. I had long been aware of
the insect's partiality for rosebuds and blossoms, which it greedily
devours. In the north of England, where it is much used as a killing
bait for trout, the insect is commonly known by the name of
'bracken-clock,' a name of the same import with the Staffordshire term
'fernshaw,' each signifying 'fern-beetle.'" Another correspondent
says--_Scarabaeus horticola_, called "the chovy" in Norfolk, is
there deemed very injurious to apple-trees, and other trees and plants,
as it feeds both on leaves and all the parts of the flower. Chovies were
abundant at Thetford, Norfolk, about ten years ago; but, as far as my
experience has reached, always rare about Bury St. Edmunds. On the 9th
of June, 1829, I