164 ENTOMOLOGY. 



produced larva?, not having been fertilized. On the other hand, I have 

 obtained individuals of both sexes every time that I have made observations 

 upon a dozen larva;. If the contrary were many times established it would 

 prove nothing conclusive. It has happened to me to raise a whole brood of 

 Aglia tau, fifty-four chrysalides, and only one male. From this we can only 

 come to one conclusion, that in certain species the male is much rarer than 

 the female. In the Psychidce, on the contrary, the two sexes are in about 

 equal numbers; even the females predominate, as they do in many other 

 genera. As to the facility with which we may be led to false conclusions, 

 M. De Siebold gives many examples, and it is sufficient to make ourselves 

 acquainted with the habits of the Psychidce, to become convinced that in 

 this genus, more than in any other, we are exposed to numerous errors. 

 Thus I firmly believe that the two sexes are reproduced in the Psychidce, 

 as in other genera of the same order. — [Essai Monographique sur la Tribu 

 des Psychides. Par M. Til. Brtjand, of Besanqon. Paris, 1853.] 



Notodonta cucullina. — Mr. F. O. Standish, in a letter dated May 12th., 

 1858, gives me the following interesting particulars respecting this insect: — In 

 September, 1856, he had a few larvae sent him. The moths made their ap- 

 pearance from May 11th. to June 16th., 1857; on the latter day he had a 

 brood of fertilized eggs. These hatched, and produced full-grown larva) 

 about the middle of July; and from August 3rd. to 15th., of the same 

 summer, eight moths made their appearance. The remainder are making 

 their debut this spring, (1858.) It would appear that the extraordinary heat 

 of last summer had a double-brooded influence upon this insect, which has 

 been always considered, by both British and Continental entomologists, only 

 single-brooded. If any of the readers of "The Naturalist" have ever met 

 with a parallel case, I hope they will communicate their experience. — H. 

 Harpue Ckewe, Stowmarket, May 28th., 1858. 



Liparis monaeha. — In noticing this insect among the Lepidoptera of Suf- 

 folk, I expressed a doubt as to the correctness of the statement in several 

 entomological works, that the larva feeds upon fir. I am happy to be able 

 to set the matter at rest. My friend Mr. Bpnd informed me the other day 

 that he had several times both taken and bred the larvae from the Scotch 

 fir, (Pinus sylvestris.) — Idem. 



O. gonostigma. — At page 53, No. 59, "Intelligencer," 1857, Mr. Machin 

 gives us a most interesting account of his having bred a second brood of 

 this insect in August and September, from eggs laid in July of the same 

 year. This moth has always been considered single-brooded in England, and 

 probably the unusual warmth of last summer was the cause of this apparently 

 abnormal occurrence. I find, however, that on the continent it is generally, 

 if not always, double-brooded. M. G-uenee and Duponchel remark: — "L'insecte 

 parfait se montre pour la premiere fois a la fin de Mai, ou au commencement 

 de Juin, et pour la seconde en Aout, Septembre, et Octobre." The perfect 

 insect appears for the first time at the end of May or beginning of June, 



