Insects, 473 



On April 16. 1833, I happened to be at my father^s, and 

 the above-mentioned Mr. Cooper was then removing a beechen 

 bedstead from the vicar's house, which he, Mr. Cooper, had, not 

 more than two or three (but I am pretty sure he said two) years 

 before made and put up. It was, on April 16. 1833, a mere 

 mass of powder, pierced through and through, with countless 

 larvae in various places, although in others less so ; a difference 

 which Mr. Cooper attributed to the wood having been taken 

 from trees various in age, or from the centre and circumference 

 of the same tree, &c. : however, the parts least attacked were 

 somewhat so, and other parts so completely destroyed, that 

 the whole bedstead was fit only for the fire. In passing my 

 door he broke off, and gave me, a small cubical block, almost 

 a lump of powder, and this I, after my return, sent to Mr. 

 Westwood, who, as soon as the insect had become winged and 

 had come forth, sent it back to me, with Ptilinus pectinicornis 

 as the name for the insect. The aptness of its specific name 

 was evident enough on May 25., when, the weather warm, 

 some were flying about in apparent high joy, with the lamellae 

 of their antennae as obvious as the teeth of a comb. This fact 

 shows that beech is one of the kinds of wood ravaged (or 

 eaten, as the Ptilinus itself would doubtless term it) in addi- 

 tion to the white deal, in which it had been previously, as 

 stated above, found in Mr. Cooper's timber-yard. 



My own first acquaintance with the habits of the Ptinidae 

 began thus : — Some six or eight years ago, some tallies, that 

 had been employed to bear the names of plants in a garden, 

 were cut over to remove decayed parts, and fit them again to 

 receive paint, and inscription, that they might be a second 

 time employed. These tallies had been made out of old 

 coach spokes, and one of them, the wood of which, I remember, 

 was oak, (whatever that of coach spokes generally may be), 

 had tracks eaten in it by larvae, some of which were then in 

 it : this was saved, at some time in the winter, and observed 

 until the perfect insects had come forth, which they did some 

 time in the summer following. I ascertained their name at the 

 time, which, I think, was Anobium striatum. — J. D, 



Remarks on the Clouded-yellonx! Butterfly {Cblias JEdusa) ; 

 and on other Lepidopteroiis Insects noticed in the Isle of Jersey. 

 — ■ Happening lately to hear the observation made, that, " in 

 all probabilit}^, the pale varieties (C. Helic^ Hiibner?) of 

 Colias Edus« will yet prove to be a distinct species," I am 

 induced to offer a few remarks which I made on this insect 

 in the Island of Jersey, where in particular situations, especially 

 over the fields of lucern (Medicago sativa) by the sea side, I 

 found it exceedingly abundant. 



It is a remarkable fact that all these pale varieties are 



