Cyprinus Tinca, TENCH.-Mucous blackish olive, with very small scales, and nearly even tail. It has been taken out of the Trent and Derwent 2 lbs. Length twelve to fourteen inches.

Cyprinus Barbus, BARBEL.-Bluish white, with four beards, olive coloured back, and the first ray of the dorsal fin serrated on both sides. It is a coarse fish, and has been taken in the Trent and Derwent upwards of 11 lbs.

Cyprinus Jeses, CHUB.-Silvery bluish, with olivaceous back, thick head and roundish snout; the belly is white, the pectoral fins are of a pale yellow, the ventral and anal fins red, and the tail brown and slightly forked.

These fish frequent deep holes in rivers and hollow banks; but in the summer season they ascend to the surface and lay quiet under the shade of a tree; but, on the least alarm, they dive with great rapidity to the bottom. They live on all kinds of insects. In March and April they may be caught with large red worms; in June and July, with flies, snails and cherries; and in August and September, cheese pounded in a mortar with saffron and a little butter. They are the best in the winter season, their flesh being more firm and better tasted, and the roe in general well flavoured. If the angler keeps his bait at the bottom in cold weather, and near the surface in the hotter months, he will have good sport, the fish being sure to bite. When chub seize the bait they bite with so much eagerness that their jaws are frequently heard to chop like those of a dog. They have been caught in the Trent and Derwent 6 lbs. weight. Length fourteen to sixteen inches.

Cyprinus Leuciscus, DACE.-Yellowish silvery, with olivaceous back, dorsal fin brown, the rest reddish, forked tail, and the lateral line curved downwards. The aperture of the mouth is middle-sized, and, like the rest of the leather-mouthed tribe, the teeth are in the throat. It is prolific, gregarious and very lively, being fond of playing near the surface of the water in summer. Its usual haunt is where the water is deep, and the stream is gentle near the piles of bridges. It seldom weighs more than a pound, or exceeds ten inches in length.

Cyprinus Alburnus, BLEAK.-Silvery, with olivaceous back, twenty rays in the anal fin, and forked tail: length five or six inches; weight 2 oz.

This fish is an excellent bait for a pike.

Cyprinus Gobio, GUDGEON.-Silvery olive, with the upper lip bearded, and the dorsal fin and tail spotted with black.

This fish spawns in April, and is often used as a bait for the pike, &c. Length five or six inches. Cyprinus Phoxinus, MINNOW OR PINK.-Blackish green, with blue and yellow variegations; reddish silvery abdomen, and forked tail: length two or three inches.

ORDER 5. CARTILAGINEI.

Fish with a cartilaginous skeleton.

GENUS. Petromyzon, LAMPREY.-Body eel-shaped; mouth placed underneath, with numerous teeth in circular rows; spiracles seven on each side the neck and one on the nape; pectoral and ventral fins none. In the Trent and Derwent rivers.

Petromyzon Fluviatilis, LAMPERN OR SEVEN EYED EEL.-Dusky blue; beneath silvery; fins violet; the second dorsal fin angular and united to the tail: length ten or twelve inches. In the Trent and Derwent rivers.

Petromyzon Branchialis, NINE EYED EEL-In the Trent and Derwent rivers. Length five or six inches. GENUS. Acipencer, STURGEON. -Snout, bearded underneath, mouth placed beneath, the head oval, retracetile, without teeth; aperture of the gills on the sides of the head; body elongated, mailed above by bony tubercles. Acipencer Sturio, COMMON STURGEON.-Grey, with dusky variations, beneath white; body rough, with five rows of spinous tubercles; lips cloven: length from six to eighteen feet.

Formidable as this large fish is in appearance, it is perfectly harmless. Its snout is long and obtuse at the end, with tendrils at the tip. Its mouth, which is beneath the head, is somewhat like the opening of a purse, and is so formed as to be pushed suddenly out, or retracted. The tendrils on its snout, which are some inches in length, have so great a resemblance to earth-worms, that, at first sight, they may be mistaken for them. By this contrivance, this clumsy, toothless fish is supposed to keep itself in good condition; the solidity of its flesh evidently shows it to be a fish of prey. It is said to hide its body among the weeds near the sea coast or at the mouths of large rivers, only exposing its tendrils, which small fish or insects, mistaking for worms, approach to seize, and are sucked into the jaws of the enemy. As this fish has no teeth, it is evident that it lives by suction.

At the approach of spring these fish leave the deep recesses of the sea, and enter the rivers to spawn. As they are not voracious fish, they are never caught by baits, but in nets. We have never heard of any having

been caught in the Derwent: they are, however, frequently taken in the Trent, but not in large numbers. A sturgeon was taken in the Trent under Donington castle, in the year 1255, that measured eight feet, the old people then affirming that a similar fish was caught in the same place the year before the coronation of king John (Annals of Burton Monastery, p. 342.) We have heard of one being taken in the Trent at Nottingham Meadows of a large size. In 1791 one was caught at Kings Mills seven feet long. (Stebbing Shaw's History of Staffordshire, vol. I. page 90.) Recently, one of a good size has been taken at Shardlow.

REPTILES.

ORDER 1. AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS.

Rana Bufo, TOAD.-Appears about the end of February: back broad, black, beset with tubercles; belly swollen, yellow, with black spots; crawls: a loathsome creature, though the eyes are beautiful.

It is said that toads take away from water every poisonous quality, and that they are venomous. It is plain they are not noxious to some animals, for ducks, buzzards, owls, stone-curlews, and snakes eat them with impunity. Many well authenticated instances are recorded of living toads having been found in solid blocks of stone and timber trees;* they are supposed to have crept in through an aperture, and growing could not get out again. Such as have been found in trees were grown round by vegetation; and those in stone by petrifaction. In that dormant state they required little or no sustenance, having little or no stimulus to exhaust them they generally die upon the access of fresh air.

This animal is in figure, nature and appetites like the frog. When irritated it emits from various parts of the skin a kind of frothy fluid, that, in our climate, produces no further unpleasant symptoms than slight inflammations. The female deposits its spawn early in the spring, in the form of a neck-lace-like chain, or string of transparent gluten, upwards of three feet long. These have the appearance of so many jet-black globules, and are the tadpoles lying in a globular form. The toad becomes torpid in autumn and continues so during the winter months.

Rana Temporaria, FROG.-In colour it varies considerably, but its general tinge is olive-brown. It is less than the toad, back smooth, margin of the upper-jaw white; leaps: torpid in winter; in ponds and ditches. In March, enlivened by the warmth of spring, they rise to the surface of the water in vast numbers, and soon make a great croaking. They spawn in March: the young tadpole is a curious and interesting little animal. The young frogs migrate from the middle of June to August. Walton says, they destroy the young fry in fish-ponds.

Lacerta Agilis, COMMON LIZARD OR SWIFT.-Tail round and scaly; five toes and nails on each foot; belly black and spotted.

Lacerta Vulgaris, COMMON EFT, BROWN LIZARD, NEWT OR ASKER.-Fore feet four toes, hind feet five; without nails; a brown line on each side of the head. For want of gills it is continually rising to the surface of the water to take in fresh air. Appears about the 1st of April, and is last seen in October.

Lacerta Palustris, Water EFT OR LIZARD.—Three or four inches long: above black brown, beneath deep yellow, spotted; feet like the former. There are varieties of them; some have fins up their tail and back, and some have not.

ORDER 2. SERPENTS.

Coluber Berus, Viper or AddeR.—The ground-colour of their bodies is a dirty yellow, the back is marked with a series of rhomboid black spots, and the belly is black: the length seldom exceeds two feet.

Providence has been so kind to us as to allow of but one venomous reptile of the serpent kind in this kingdom, and that is the adder. This reptile has been seen amongst the rocks at Matlock, and frequently on the moors. Though they are oviparous yet they are viviparous also, hatching their young within their bellies, and then bring them forth. They lay ten or eleven eggs, and appear the latter end of February or the beginning of March. Their bite is said to be very dangerous, yet swine and peacocks devour them greedily. Common salad oil is said to be a sovereign remedy against the bite of the viper. Vipers crawl slowly at all times, and only attack such smaller animals as come within their reach.+

Found in a rock at Blackhole, where limestone is procured, by the Peak Forest Canal Company, a live toad, six inches across the back. It was not discovered that there were any aperture in the rock communicating with the hole, which was quite smooth in the interior. This is another instance of the authenticated and yet hard-to-be-accredited fact of toads being found enclosed in rocks.-Chesterfield Gazette.

The Rev. Gilbert White, in his History of Selborne, says, "On August the 4th, 1775, we surprised a large viper which seemed very heavy and bloated, as it lay in the grass basking in the sun. When we came to cut it up, we found that the abdomen was crowded with young, fifteen in number; the shortest of which measured full seven inches, and were about the size of full-grown earth-worms. This little fry issued into the world with the true viper

X

Coluber Natrix, SNAKE.-Swim very swiftly, prey on lizards under water, and are very prolific if undisturbed. They appear about the end of March, and lay their eggs in dunghills. Seventy have been destroyed in one dungbill. Snakes cast their skins about September.

<< -There the snake throws her enamelled skin." Shakspeare.

Anguis Fragilis, BLIND WORM.-Common on heaths and the Moorland hills. It is perfectly harmless, though considered to be poisonous by the peasantry.

A SKETCH OF THE ENTOMOLOGY OF DERBYSHIRE.

Each moss,

Each shell, each crawling insect, holds a rank
Important in the plan of Him who formed
This scale of beings; holds a rank, which lost,
Would break the chain, and leave a gap
That Nature's self would rue!"

THE name of insect, is derived from the circumstance of the individuals which bear it having, in general, a separation in the middle of their bodies, by which they are cut, as it were, in two parts. Insects breathe through pores arranged along their sides, and have no hearts or arteries. Nearly all of them, with the exception of spiders, and a few others of the apterous tribe, undergo three changes, at different periods of their existence. The animal is first produced as an egg; from these eggs proceed the larvæ, grubs or caterpillars; which, as soon as they are perfected, take a new form, that of the pupa or chrysalis; and lastly, from the chrysalis emerges the perfect animal.

By Linnæus insects are divided into seven orders : viz.

1. Coleopterous insects. These have crustaceous elytra, or shells, which shut together and form a longitudinal suture down the back. Such as beetles, lady-cows and earwigs.

2. Hemipterous insects. These have their wings half crustaceous and half membranaceous, not divided by a longitudinal suture, but incumbent on or crossed over each other. Such as the cockroach and locust.

3. Lepidopterous or scaly winged insects. The wings of these are covered with fine scales, seeming like powder or meal. This class includes butterflies and moths.

4. Neuropterous insects. These take their denomination from their having four membranaceous transparent naked wings, in which the membranes cross each other like net-work, as is to be seen in the dragon fly. The tail is stingless.

5. Hymenopterous insects. These have, in general, four membranaceous naked wings, not so much resembling net-work as the wings of the neuroptera; and, except in the male, the tail is armed with a sting. The bee, the wasp and the ant are of this tribe. In some of the genera, the neuters, and in others the males and females, are without wings.

6. Dipterous insects. These, as may be seen in the house-fly and the gnat, have only two wings, each of which has a balancer.

7. Apterous insects. These are such as are wingless. An order which includes many tribes: among these are the flea, the spider, the scorpion, the crab, &c.

Lucanus Cervus, GREAT STAG BEETLE.-It is of a dark brown colour, with the exception of the jaws, which are frequently as red as coral. When this occurs it has a beautiful appearance.

spirit about them, showing great alertness as soon as disengaged from the belly of the dam: they twisted and riggled about, and set themselves up, and gaped very wide when touched with a stick, showing manifest tokens of menace and defiance, though as yet they had no manner of fangs that we could find, even with the help of our glasses. "To a thinking mind nothing is more wonderful than that early instinct which impresses young animals with the notion of the situation of their natural weapons, and of using them properly in their own defence, even before those weapons subsist or are formed. Thus a young cock will spar at his adversary before his spurs are grown : and a calf or lamb will push with their heads before their horns are sprouted. In the same manner did these young adders attempt to bite before their fangs were in being. The dam, however, was furnished with very formidable ones, which we lifted up (for they fold down when not used) and cut them off with the point of our scissars.

"There was little room to suppose that this brood had ever been in the open air before; and that they were taken in for refuge, at the mouth of the dam, when she perceived that danger was approaching; because then, probably, we should have found them somewhere in the neck, and not in the abdomen."

This insect, which is the largest this county produces, may easily be distinguished by its jaws, which resemble the horns of a stag. It frequents oak and willow trees. From the point of its jaws, to the extremity of the abdomen, it sometimes measures three inches. It flies abroad, and feeds upon the leaves of plants and trees, only in the evening, and is principally seen in June or July. The mandibles are so strong, that it can pinch with them severely.

Scarabæus Auratus, ROSE CHAFFER.-Appears the beginning of June.

Scarabæus Solsit, HOARY BEETLE.-Appears in July.

Crysomela Nemorum, TURNIP BEETLE.-Skippers, preys on the young turnip plants.

Curculio Granarius WEEVIL.-This long-snouted insect devours corn in granaries.

Coccinella Bipunctata, LADY Cow OR LADY BIRD.-This is a well known and beautiful insect, it appears about the middle of April, and seeks its food on the leaves of trees and plants. They were very numerous in the summer of 1828.

Forficula Auricularia, EARWIG.-Common.

Scarabæus Melolontha, COCKCHAFFER OR MAY BUG.-These insects seldom abound, as they live in their larvæ state four years under ground, during which time they live on the roots of trees and plants, and their ravages are frequently very injurious in meadow land; when they swarm, they deface the trees and hedges. Whole woods of oak are stripped bare by them.

Chaffers are eaten by the turkey, the rook, the jay and the hedge-sparrow. They appear in May, and were it not for these birds, would multiply to such a degree as to become a nuisance.

Scarabæus Solstitialis, FERNCHAFFER.-These insects appear about the latter end of June, and are supposed to eat off the roots of wheat and clover. They are a small species, about half the size of the May chaffer.

ORDER 2. HEMIPTERA.

Blatta Orientalis, COCKROACH.-This is a kind of black beetle. The male is winged; the female is not, but shows somewhat like the rudiments of wings, as if in the pupa state.

These insects belonged, originally, to the warmer parts of America. They love warmth, and haunt chimney closets and the backs of ovens. They are altogether night insects, never coming forth until the rooms are dark and still, and escaping away nimbly at the approach of a candle. Their antennæ are remarkably long, slender and flexile. Some bake-houses in Derby swarm with these insects.

Gryllus Domesticus, HOUSE CRICKET.-Its wings are tailed, and longer than the wing-cases; the body is of a light green colour, shaded with brown; and it is provided with six feet. When in the air, these insects move in curves like woodpeckers, opening and shutting their wings at every stroke, and so are always rising and sinking.

Some kitchen hearths swarm with minute crickets, not larger than fleas, during the winter months, which must have been lately hatched. So that these domesticated insects, cherished by the influence of a constant large fire, regard not the season of the year, but produce their young at a time when their congenors are either dead or laid up for the winter, to pass their time in the profoundest slumbers, and a state of torpidity. They utter a shrill note, and as soon as it grows dusk their chirping increases, and they come running forth of all sizes. They are fond of liquids, and may be destroyed like wasps, by phials half filled with beer, and set in their haunts.

Gryllus Gryllotalpa, MOLE CRICKET.-This little creature is a complete representative of the mole; its forefeet are broad and strong, and in their formation and position, bear a great resemblance to the fore-feet of that animal. They are used for precisely the same purpose as those of moles, to burrow under the surface of the ground, where this insect generally resides. The female forms a cell of clammy earth, closed up on every side, and as large within as two hazel nuts: she lays nearly one hundred and fifty white eggs, about the size of caraway comfits, in May. They are carefully covered, to defend them from the injuries of the weather and the attacks of the black beetle, which often destroys them. The female places herself near the entrance of the nest, and when the beetle attempts to seize its prey, the guardian insect catches it behind and bites it asunder. They remove their nests to a great depth in the earth in the winter, to prevent the frost reaching them, and raise them again as the spring advances. They make a churring noise about the middle of April. These insects often infest gardens by the side of canals.

Gryllus Campestris, GRASSHOPPER.-Head somewhat like that of a horse, and is of a lively green colour. It has four wings and six legs; the hind legs being longer than the fore-legs, assists the insect in leaping. The corslet is armed with a strong buckler.

The grasshopper has three kinds of stomachs, is oviparous, and lays about one hundred and fifty eggs, which

are white, oval, of a horny substance, and nearly the size of aniseeds. The female dies soon after she has produced them. They make a chirping noise, appear in June, and principally feed on grass.

Cimex Linearis.-The females of these insects vastly exceed the males in bulk. They dart and shoot along on the surface of the water. The sexes are found separate, except where generation is going on. From the multitude of minute young, of all gradations of sizes, these insects seem to be viviporous.

Scarabæus Stercorarius, COMMON DOR OR CLOCK.-Appears in February, and is last seen in November.

ORDER 3. LEPIDOPTERA.

Papilio Pictus, Painted Lady BUTTERFLY.-Butterflies may be said to consist of three parts: the head, the corslet, and the body. The body is the hinder part, and is composed of rings, which are generally concealed under long hairs, with which that part of the insect is clothed. The corslet is more solid than the rest of the body, and in which the fore wings and the legs are fixed. They have six legs, but only make use of four. Butterflies have not all eyes of the same form; some are the larger portion of a sphere, in others they are but a small part of it, and just appearing from the head; some are large and some small, but in all of them the outer coat has a lustre, in which may be discovered all the colours of the rainbow.

Papilio Brassica, Cabbage BUTTERFLY.-The caterpillar appears the latter end of April or the beginning of May, and breeds from May to July.

Papilio Hyale, SAFFRON BUTTERFLY.-Appears the latter end of August or early in September.

Papilio Semele, BLACK-EYED MARBLE BUTTERFLY.-Appears in August.

Papilio Moera, ARGUS BUTTERFLY.-Appears early in June.

Papilio Atalanta, Admiral BUTTERFLY.-Appears the middle of May.

Papilio Pavus, PEACOCK BUTTERFLY.-Appears in March.

Papilio Urtica, NETTLE BUTTERFLY.-Appears from February to April.

Papilio Rhamni, BRIMSTONE BUTTERFLY.-Appears from February to April.

Papilio Cardamines, ORANGE-TIPPed Butterfly.-Appears about the middle of May.
Papilio Machaon, SWALLOW TAILED BUTTERFLY.-Appears from May to September.
Papilio Egeria, WOOD ARGUS BUTTERFLY.-Appears about the middle of May.
Papilio Argentum, SILVER-TIPPED BUTTERFLY.-Appears in May or June.
Papilio Aldermannus.—ALDERMAN BUTTERFLY.-Appears in May or June.
Fapilio Chelonium, TORTOISE-SHELL BUTTERFLY.—Appears in May or June.
Papilio Imperator, EMPEROR BUTTERFLY. - Appears in May or June.

Papilio Phlaas, SMALL GOLDEN BLACK SPOTTED BUTTERFLY.-Appears the latter end of August.

Sphynx Ocellata, HUMMING-BIRD MOTH.-A vast insect, appears after it is dusk, flying with a humming noise, and inserting its tongue into the bloom of the honey-suckle; it scarely settles upon the plants, but feeds on the wing, in the manner of humming-birds.

Sphynx Ligustri, PRIVET MOTH.

Sphynx Filipendulæ, BURNET MOтH.-Appears in May or June.

Phalana Caput mors, DEATH'S-HEAD MOTH.-One of these fine and rare insects was killed in Derby in the summer of 1828, and is now in Cooke's collection; it measures nearly five inches from tip to tip of the wings. Phalana Prasinana, LEOPARD MOTH.

Phalana Pacta, WILLOW MOTH.- Red under the wings; appears about the end of August.
Phalœna Tinca Vestianella.-This moth eats clothes. It appears the latter end of February.
Phalœna Quercus, Олк Mотн.—Of a pale yellow, and sometimes of a pale green colour.

The aurelia of this moth is shining and as black as jet and lies wrapped up in a leaf of the tree, which is rolled round it, and secured at the ends by a web, to prevent the maggot from falling out. These insects, though a feeble race, yet from their infinite numbers are of wonderful effect, being able to destroy the foliage of whole forests and districts; when they leave their aurelia and issue forth in the fly-state, they are seen swarming and covering the trees and hedges. In the summer of 1828, I saw a hedge in Darley Dale, the leaves of which were completely eaten by these insects. Glover.

ORDER 4. NEUROPTERA.

Libellula Grandis, GREAT DRAGON FLY.-Several varieties of these beautiful insects appear in May. They sport and fly over waters, and numbers are seen in the air in fine weather.