66 Zoology, 



Attempt to naturalise the A^rctia 'ph<Borrh<B'a^ or Brovm4aU Moth. — Sir. 

 The account in your Magazine (Vol. I. p. 376.) of Sir John Sinclair's unsuc- 

 cessful attempt to naturalise the nightingale in the northern parts of the 

 island, calls to my recollection a somewhat similar experiment I once tried, 

 and with like success, on a subject of entomology ; a rather dangerous ex- 

 periment, you will perhaps think it, considering the ravages sometimes com- 

 mitted by the insect in question, A'rctia 

 phaeorrhae^a {fig. 14.), and the serious 

 alarm it once caused in the vicinity of 

 London. (See Curtiis Observations on 

 the Brown-tail Moth.) A''rctia phaeor- 

 rhae'^a is never found in this district (War- 

 wickshire); and my first acquaintance 

 Hvith it, in any state, took place some 

 years since, in the Isle of Wight, where 

 the hedges, in autumn, were absolutely 

 blighted to disfiguration with the numerous webs of this insect, under 

 shelter of which the infant caterpillars lie secure during the winter, ready 

 to come forth and devour the young foliage in the spring. Being anxious to 

 possess specimens of the moth, which at that time I had never even seen,l 

 accordingly took home with me a number of the webs, which, as I have 

 stated, formed the hybernacula of broods of the infant caterpillars. Many 

 of these 1 bred up in confinement to the perfect state. But wishing to see 

 whether I could not have a constant brood of them at hand, I placed a 

 'number of the webs on the hawthorn hedges, as soon as the leaves came 

 out in the spring. The young caterpillars fed freely, nOt seeming to regard 

 their transportation to a distant country. When arrived in due time at their 

 full growth, they retired, as I conclude, for the purpose of changing to the 

 pupa state ; but, though 1 have no doubt that many of the perfect insects 

 were produced, I could never observe a single specimen of the moth at large, 

 nor were any of the webs to be found about the hedges the following au- 

 tumn. The insect, in short, ceased to propagate itself in this district, and 

 the new-planted colony came speedily to an end. Whatever disappoint- 

 ment I might feel on the occasion (less, certainly, than Sir John Sinclair 

 might reasonably feel in his case), you will, perhaps, think I ought to rejoice 

 at the total failure of my experiment. — W. T. Bree, AUesley Bectory, 

 Nov. 13.1828. 



The Zeuzera Bd'sculi ( Wood-leopard Moth) is by no means a common in- 

 sect in this country ; and as the habits and localities of lepidopterous insects 

 are of essential service to young entomologists, I hope the following notice 

 may be acceptable to some : — On the 10th of last May, whilst examining 

 the trunk of a pear tree in my garden, I observed, between four and five feet 

 from the ground, a substance resembling decayed sawdust, apparently pro- 

 truding from beneath the bark, of about the size of a small pea. Upon 

 removal, I found the bark had been perforated by some insect ; and on re- 

 moving some of the bark, I was enabled to trace the course taken by the 

 insect, which may be better explained with the assistance of the annexed 

 sketch. Upon entering the bark at a (fig. 15.), the insect appeared to 

 Tiave taken its direction downwards, as the cavity was not more than two 

 eighths of an inch sunk into the wood, till reaching b, where it was rather 

 more than three eighths, and partly filled with the excrement of the larva ; 

 at c, the cavity began gradually to approach towards the centre of the tree, 

 and take a regular shape, and continued at about half an inch in diameter 

 to D ; extending from b to d, 1 1 a in., and at d, l| in. from the circumfer- 

 ence of the tree. When the whole cavity was exposed, the larva appeared 

 as at E, with its head upwards. On account of the hardness of the wood, 

 and distance to which the insect had penetrated, I had some difficulty to get 

 at it without injuring it, and accidentally let the chisel slip against its side ; 



