The Scottish Naturalist. 341 



Vanessa antiopa on Ben Lawers. — I had the good fortune to capture 

 Vanessa antiopa on the west side of Ben Lawers, on the 26th of August. 

 The altitude was, I think, between 1500 and 1600 feet. — A. Craig Christie, 

 Millmore, Killin, August 29, 1878. 



Capture of Paclinobia liyperborea. — When collecting on a mountain near 

 Glen Tilt last July, I had the pleasure of putting my net over a specimen 

 of Pachnobia hypcrlm'ea which Mr W. Herd saw flying in the daytime over 

 some rough stony ground. This species has not, I think, been taken in 

 Athole since Mr Douglas discovered it (as a British species) on Ben Ghlo 

 many years ago. A good many specimens have, I understand, been taken in 

 Rannoch this year. — F. Buchanan White. 



Capture of Coccyx distinctana. — On the 27th of June 1877, I took a 

 tortrix from silver fir in my shrubbery which struck me as differing from C. 

 hyrciniana. On the 14th of June of this year, I took several specimens of 

 the same tortrix on Pmns nordmanniana. As it appeared to me to answer 

 the description of C. distinctana of Wilkinson and Stainton, and the Focdisca (?) 

 pyoximana of Staudinger and Herrich Schaeffer, I communicated with Mr 

 Hodgkinson of Preston and Lord Walsingham, who were both said to have 

 taken C. distinctana. They both kindly forwarded me specimens for com- 

 parison, and I find that my insect is identical with that taken by Lord Wal- 

 singham at Merton. Mr Hodgkinson's insect is the same as our hyrciniana ; 

 and I think he must have made some mistake in the types he sent to me, as 

 they do not agree with the description which he himself gives me of the 

 original distinctana as captured by him and described by Wilkinson, who 

 says, " It is easily separated from hyrciniana, 1st, by the anterior wing being 

 less streaky ; 2d, by the streaks themselves being more defined ; 3d, by the 

 first two costal streaks beyond the middle uniting, and being produced unin- 

 terruptedly to the anal angle." I am doubtful as to the absence of the white 

 spot on the cilice being a distinctive character as held by Doubleday, as in 

 Herrich Schteffer's figure it is distinctly visible; and in my specimens, as well 

 as in Lord Walsingham's, some are without it, though some have it, though 

 not so markedly as in hyrciniana. Lord Walsingham tells me he takes it on 

 Finns cephalonica, and that Dr Wood has bred if from silver fir. — Thos. 

 MONCREIFFE, Moncreiffe House, August 13, 1878. 



Curious habit of Chrysocoris festaliella. — I noticed a curious habit in a 

 specimen of this insect that I captured near Birnam this year, which Mr 

 Stainton tells me has not been hitherto observed. It reminded me very much 

 of a sculler in his skiff, hoisting its hindmost legs very much as the above- 

 mentioned individual would rest his oars in the rowlocks when desisting from 

 his labours. Making occasionally, as Mr Stainton aptly observes, " a demi- 

 pirouette," by dropping one leg, and propelling itself to left or right as the 

 case might be ; then dropping both legs at once, as a sculler might dip his 

 oars in the water when he wished to make a forward movement. Not know- 

 ing the habits of the insect, and as I captured it by a pond-side, I almost 

 wondered whether it was semi-aquatic, and occasionally disported itself on 

 the surface, or on the floating leaves of " potamogeton," or other plants which 

 lie on the surface of the water. So much for imagination, as I am told the 

 larva mines the leaves of raspberry plants. — Thos. Moncreiffe, Moncreiffe 

 House, A2ig. 1878. 



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