Welsh Journals

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variety of insects. Often too these excursions provide entrance to sites previously unknown and well worth a visit. The Bishop's Mitre, Aelia acuminata (L.), an uncommon Shield bug in North Wales, was found at Flagstaff Quarry, near Penmon, during a BSBI meeting on 15 July 1984. This is the first record for Anglesey of a species previously only known from Morfa Bychan and Llandudno area in Caerns. and Morfa Harlech and Morfa Dyffryn in Merioneth. Even more interesting was finding the nymph of the Ant Damsel- bug, Aptus mirmicoides (Costa), on a stone above an ant's nest in this old quarry. At first glance the insect was taken to be an ant, so convincing is the superficial resemblance. The species has only been recorded once before in North Wales, at the same locality (9.vii.52), by P.E.S. Whalley. An NWNT fungus foray to Plas Lligwy, Anglesey, provided another opportunity for insect collecting. By 30 September the number of insects to be seen is much reduced compared with the summer months and only 15 species were identified on this date, including two Red Admirals on garden flowers. However, the rather dense wood yielded an uncommon cranefly, making the visit well worth while. Ormosia albitibia Edw. has not been found in Anglesey previously and in fact has not been recorded in North Wales since H.F. Barnes noted it in the Lleyn peninsula and Dolwyddelan, Caerns. in 1926 Later in the same afternoon there was also an opportunity to learn about fungi and admire the named specimens laid out: Earth-star, Jew's Ear, Dog Stinkhorn, Death-cap, King Alfred's cakes and many others, the names repeated with delight by the sharp-eyed children accompanying the party. Joining a botanical group certainly adds an extra dimension to an entomological outing. M.J. Morgan School of Animal Biology, University College of North Wales, Bangor. The R.J. King Mineral collection In 1983, one of the most important private mineral collections in Britain was purchased by the National Museum of Wales. The collection, made by Dr. Robert J. King of Leicester University, comprises over 10,500 registered specimens, approximately 3,500 reserve specimens, numerous unidentified/ problematical specimens, and a large amount of research material, all accompanied by extensive documentation. Although much of the material was collected by Dr. King himself, he also acquired a number of significant old collections, including those of Dr. H.F. Harwood of Deganwy, Wilbert Goodchild of Threlkeld, and Raymond Walsh of Blackpool. Other highlights include an extensive, and possibly unique, worldwide collection of cassiterites, and an important suite of fluorites, containing exceptional Weardale specimens (see King, 1982a). The collection has greatly enhanced the National Museum's existing collection and, as well as containing many Welsh specimens, there is a large amount of material suitable for public exhibition. A number of specimens have added to the National Museum's small, but increasing, type, figured and cited mineral specimen collection. Dr. King has now retired from Leicester and has been appointed Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Geology at the National Museum of Wales, where he is currently curating the R. J. King Mineral Collection. This is clearly of enormous value for not only has the collection been acquired but also the Museum now has the benefit of his curatorial and conservational expertise. Dr. King has recently published several articles on mineral conservation in the Journal of the Russell Society (King, 1982b, 1982c) and he will continue to edit this journal from Cardiff. The National Museum intends to publish, in separate parts within its Geological Series, a catalogue of the R.J. King Mineral Collection, the first part of which was published (King, 1981) as a supplement to the Geological Curator. A catalogue of the fluorites will shortly be ready for publication. All the parts will be available separately, for a small charge, from the National Museum of Wales. References King, R.J. 1981. A catalogue of the R.J. King Mineral Collection: Part 1 Cassiterite specimens. Geological Curator, 3(2/3), (supplement). King, R.J. 1982a. The Boltsburn mine, Wear- dale, County Durham, England. Min. Re- cord, 13,5-18. King, R.J. 1982b. Care of minerals. Section 1. Cleaning of minerals. Jl Russell Soc., 1(1),- King, R. J. 1982c. Care of minerals. Section 2. The development of minerals. Russell Soc., 1(2), 54-77. Dr. R. E. Bevins, Department of Geology, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff. Cynefin The word and the concept The Welsh word Cynefin has become much more widely used in recent years and there are many enquiries regarding its origin and its meaning. The extended definition given at the Cynefin Conference in December 1982 by Professor Jones is accordingly included here. Cynefin is an untranslatable word. It derives ultimately from the same root as Latin domus and carries the same sense of dwelling place, family seat, but it has acquired a wider connotation than house or home. It is the totality of the loca where one belongs, a loca conceived in a much more familiar way than in the terms environment and habitat. His cynefin is the Welshman's first and foremost window on the world. On one geographical level it is the ardal, the immediate neighbourhood; it is Llanuwchllyn, Ffair-rhos, Llannerch-y- medd. On a somewhat larger geographical scale it is Penllyn, Rhondda, Dyffryn Clwyd, Cwm Tawe, Mon, those ill- defined but well-recognised culture areas which we call bro. Cynefin is that area where we feel we belong. For most it is the place where we were brought up, the surroundings which impressed themselves upon us in the formative years between five and fifteen. The poet and critic W.J. Gruffydd refers to this kind of cynefin in his autobiography, Hen Atgofion. He speaks of Cardiff where he had spent most of his life. 'I only exist here', he says, 'I sleep, I work, I eat, but I do not live'. Living belonged to Bethel, to Llanddeiniolen, to Arfon where he grew up. Others acquire a second ardal or bro, that area where they settle and establish roots. It becomes their adopted cynefin. For both groups cynefin implies deeply felt ties of familiarity and identification. Through travel, through reading many of us get to know other parts of Wales reasonably well, but it will never be with that fullness of recognition which we acquire in our native or adopted ardal and bro. It is there that our real attachment lies.