42 ENTOMOLOGY. 



ruthless extermination it would be unwise and impolitic to do so; but I must 

 tell him as a friend that unless he gives us the neighbourhood, date, and manner 

 of its capture, I very much fear that his advertisement will not only be a 

 dead letter, but will most seriously damage his reputation as an honest dealer. 

 As a dealer in insects Mr. King comes before us in a public capacity, and 

 must therefore be prepared to give the fullest information as to the genuineness 

 of the articles he vends. C. dispar does occur on the continent, but it is ex- 

 cessively rare, so much so that in its palmy days here it was bought up 

 on all sides by the continental collectors. It is, I believe, common in Nubia, 

 but I am not aware of any other locality. Will Mr. King be good enough 

 to tell us whether by C. hippothoe he means C. dispar, and if so, when, where, 

 and how he took it? — H. Haepue Ceewe, Stowmarket, Suffolk, January 13th., 

 1858. 



Argynnis dia. — "We have heard all the circumstances connected with the 

 supposed capture of this insect, and we are bound to say that we do not 

 think a sufficient case has been made out to warrant its admission as a British 

 species. We entirely exonerate the gentleman whose name has been connected 

 with it from the imputation of having made the slightest wilful misrepresentation, 

 but we believe that a mistake has occurred, and the identity of the insect 

 taken has been confused with some of the Foreign insects that gentleman had 

 in his possession. The extreme scientific interest which is attached to the ad- 

 dition of any fresh Lepidopterous insect to our Fauna, and the readiness with 

 which such an admission real or erroneous, is followed by the importation of 

 a large family of the "insect new to Britain," the following year, demands 

 that all newly-discovered species should be free from even the shade of sus- 

 picion. We regard the word of a gentleman as sufficient proof of his sincerity, 

 and as settling at once the truth of his statement as far as his belief is 

 concerned, but in the case of Dia two distinct statements as to its capture 

 have been made, both of them essentially different, and the possession of foreign 

 insects by that gentleman, coupled with these statements, leads to the inevitable 

 inference that a mistake may have occurred. — En. 



Exchange Boxes. — The great desideratum in these boxes is to get size united 

 with strength and lightness. We have lately had some made, corked on both 

 sides, five inches by two inches and three-eighths, which unite all the above 

 requirements. Mr. Betts, Cabinet Maker, of this place, will make them for 

 one shilling each, and will send a specimen box on receipt of sixteen penny 

 stamps. They will go through the post in wool for fourpence. — Ed., Stow- 

 market. 



Are the Lithosiae attracted by sugar? — One evening last summer, I found 

 three specimens of L. griseola on a tree I had sugared, together with four 

 or five S. xanthographa. They were on the part of the trunk that was sugared, 

 but whether feeding or not I was unable to determine. I should imagine the 

 sugar had some attraction for them, as Mr. Bree mentioned a similar instance 

 of L. helveola in last month's number of this magazine. I mention this fact 



