4i5 



PART IV. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. Natural History in the English Counties. 



Devonshire. 



Climate of Bovey Tracery Chudleighy Devon, as to Birds. — Three swallows 

 were seen here, April 15. 1831, going into some old nests under the eaves 

 of the house. — J. G. C. Bovey Tracey, Chudleigh, DevoUy April 20. 1831. 



Habits and Habitats of 'Noctua prce^coXy vitta, valligeray sagittifera, and 

 JEgeria crabroniformiSy Saturnia Pavonia mmory and Callimorpha domimda. — 

 Sir, As I believe myself to be the first person who ever reared that beautiful 

 moth, iVoctua prae^cox, from its larva, and ascertained its proper food and 

 locality, I send you some particulars relative to that and some other insects. 

 Donovan mentions that the larva of N. prae^cox feeds on the thistle ; one 

 having been found at the roots in Portland Island. When residing at Bedi- 

 few, North Devon, I examined the thistles at Appledon Burrows for two 

 seasons without success. It was by mere accident I met with the larvae 

 one dark showery day in the end of May, when they were feeding on short 

 stunted plants of the Galium verum, or yellow-flowered ladies' bedstraw, 

 which grows on the bare sand. I found forty in the course of half an hour, 

 and in the circumference of 100 yards ; and although on several subsequent 

 days I examined the same spot, not one was to be seen. I put these larvae 

 into a box, the bottom of which I covered 3 in. deep with sand from the 

 spot, and fed the larvae with the bedstraw. The moths were produced the 

 following August. The succeeding spring, with a small garden rake, I 

 raked the sand in the same spot and in other places, where I found a 

 number of them, and also of iVoctua vitta and valllgera. The last two 

 feed on the roots of the grass, and all remain about l| in. beneath the sand. 

 The larvae of the N, pras^cox come to the surface to feed only at night; 

 except occasionally on a dark day, after a wet night, as in the above instance; 

 and this through fear of their enemies, the crows and gulls, which feed on 

 them. I also found the larvae of the iVoctua sagittifera feeding on the 

 leaves of the henbane (ITyoscjamus niger) near the same spot; and when 

 not feeding they remain under the sand near the plant. I have subsequently 

 found all the above-named larvae in South Devon also ; and this by using 

 the rake. 



Habitat of the Larva, Pupa, and Fly ofJEgeria crabroniformis. Exa- 

 mining the bole of a large poplar tree for moths, the bark of which was 

 exceeding rough, I observed a substance resembling sawdust, falling down 

 from several small holes the size of a goose quill in the bark. On a close 

 inspection I found a pair of the insects in a state of copulation. They had 

 that moment escaped from the pupae, the empty cases of which were half 

 protruding out of two of the small holes. Previously to the developement 

 of the insect, the pupa forces its way to the front of the hole by means of 

 prickles on each segment of the body. I also found one on a sallow tree 

 (»S'alix) near the above poplar, and on the margin of a fishpond infested with 

 them. I examined the above trees early every morning for some days after, 

 and collected about twenty; and I invariably observed, if the two sexes were 

 on the same tree, they were always in a state of copulation. During that 

 time I was in the practice of beating all the branches of the trees and bushes 



