] G2 [December, 



believe it sucks the juices of its prey. The larva hibernates, becoming 

 a pupa about the end of May or June, and the imago emerges in June 

 and July. The pupa is found in the decaying matter between the 

 bark and wood of fir trees. The imago may often be found resting 

 on tlie bark of the same trees. 



Zetterstedt (Diptera Scandinavia?, i, 129) says that X. cinctus 

 inhabits the trunks of Pinus and Abies, and gives a short description 

 of the pupa. He reports it as rare in the south, but more frequent 

 in the north of Scandinavia. I am not aware that Xylophagus cinctus 

 has been previously recorded as a native of Britain. 



Xi/loj)Jiar/us ater. I am sorry that I cannot give a detailed 

 description of the larva and pupa of this species, because till I reared 

 the imago I considered the larvsB that I found to belone: to the same 

 species as those of X. cinctus, to which they have a very great re- 

 semblance, and consequently I omitted taking notes. The larva lives 

 between the bark and the wood of dead birch stumps, almost in- 

 variably in company with the larva of Pyrochroa pectinicornis, on 

 which it probably feeds, though I never saw it attacking that or any 

 other insect. The habits and times of appearance of X. ater are the 

 same as those of X. ductus. Zetterstedt (i, 128) states that the imago 

 frequents the trunks of living birches in North Scandinavia, and of 

 aspens in South Scandinavia. At p. 2947 (vol. viii) he says : " Larvae 

 hujus speciei in larvis Pyrochroae coccinejB proedantes vivunt, teste 

 1). Drewsen;" and in vol. xiii (p. 4929) he mentions that the pupa 

 had been found under the bark of a beech. In the " Modern Classifica- 

 tion of Insects " (ii, 53G), Professor Westwood gives a short description 

 and figure (127, 18 and 19) of the larva, from specimens sent by 

 M. Van Eoser, and found by him in decayed birch wood. Schiner, 

 though he includes both species in his "Diptera Austriaca," gives little 

 information regarding the larva?. 



As X. ater occurs in England, the larvfe will probably be found 

 in company with those of Pyrochroa coccinea. 



Perth : Aovetnber, 187G. 



Captures at ivy-hloom. — During tlic last lialf of October, I visited various places 

 in the South West of England, and examined the ivy-bloom at each of the localities. 



On the 11th October, I arrived at Tintern, and in the bright sunshine observed, 

 among a number of Vanessa Atalanta, a specimen of Orapta C- album ; in the 

 evening I took Dasycampa riihiginea and a few Cidaria psittacata, the common 

 species of Noctuce being abundant. On the 17th, at Penzance, I found on the under- 



