54 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



at about the centre of the length of the body, and having a small 

 movable scale a little distance behind it." Now in the specimen 

 under notice there is not the slightest indication of such ventral 

 scales, and what is considered a scale by the authors named takes 

 the form of a strong, bayonet-shaped spine situated behind the 

 vent, and is an inch long. Yarrell describes one he saw in 1808, 

 and remarks " that it had a triangular scale situated behind the 

 vent." But I cannot see that the name scale can be applied to such 

 an organ: one might as well call the spines on the back of the Dog- 

 fish scales. Yarrell says of his specimen : " I observed within the 

 skin, on the abdominal parts, a great many Ascarides, pointed at each 

 end, and of a whitish colour." The fish now recorded had a number 

 of such parasites. GEO. SIM, Aberdeen. 



Pygcera (Phalera) bueephala (Z.) in Moray. --The larvse of 

 this moth, when feeding on the oak, usually choose a twig far up 

 the tree, and it is not often that an opportunity of seeing them in 

 the act is afforded to the observer. There is an oak in the wood 

 near Elgin which, through some injury in its youth, has grown 

 laterally in place of vertically. Thus the summit of the tree is only 

 a few feet above the ground, although it is a considerable distance 

 from the root. In August I found a colony of buff- tip larvae 

 established ir> what they no doubt considered one of the topmost 

 branches, around the twigs of which they had entwined themselves 

 in a cluster. I took a few home. They fed readily on oak leaves, 

 buried themselves in earth early in September, and emerged as 

 moths on 5th June following. The moths did not return to the 

 tree this year. HENRY H. BROWN, Elgin. 



Euehelia (Hipoerita) Jacobsese (Z.) and its Food-plant A 

 number of larvae of the Cinnabar Moth were early in September sent 

 me from the neighbourhood of Elie. Along with them was sent a 

 portion of the plant upon which they had been feeding, and which 

 appeared to be Senedo tenuifoliiis, or a kindred species. I could 

 not conveniently get any species except the common ragwort (S. 

 Jacobcea), and supplied them with an abundance of fresh shoots of 

 that plant which might have satisfied the most fastidious caterpillar. 

 They would not taste it, and in spite of my efforts died one after 

 another. I cannot say whether this was a case of acquired taste on 

 the part of the larvae, or whether their behaviour was customary 

 amongst the species, as I have had no opportunity here of studying 

 the habits of the Cinnabar Moth. HENRY H. BROWN, Elgin. 



Alueita hexadaetyla (polydaetyla) in Scotland. In looking 

 over the back numbers of the " Annals " I was much astonished to 

 notice (vol. vi. p. 48) a quotation made by Mr. Elliot to the effect that 

 Mr. C. G. Barrett " could not find a record of A. potydadyla occurring 

 in Scotland at all." In August 1893 I took the species in Argyleshire, 

 and in "The Monograph of the British Pterophorina" (in which most of 



