0](j [February, 



ill the hope tliat it may induce some of the readers of your Magazine to tell what 

 they know on the interesting and obscure subject of larval variation. — Edwin 

 Birch ALT,, Douglas, Isle of Man : December 28th, 187G. 



Acherontia Atropns in the north of Scotland. — I have recently heard of the oc- 

 currence of A. Atropos at St. Andrew's and Wick, and though it is rather late to 

 record them, still I think it would be as well to do so, as this fine moth is not often 

 reported from Scotland. 



In the autumn of 1875, a large specimen was seen resting on a shrub in a garden 

 at St. Andrew's. It was not disturbed by any one, probably through fear, as the insect 

 must have had rather an ominous appearance in tlie twilight ; the other was found 

 on a cabbage leaf by a gentleman, in his garden at Wick, and it allowed him to 

 touch it without flying off, or showing any signs of irritation. Has any account 

 appeared of tlie capture oi Atropos so far north as Caithness? — W. M. Sandison, 

 Glasgow : (ith January, 1877. 



[The insect has occurred still further north, in Orkney and Shetland. Its dis- 

 tribution in Europe is probably co-extensive with that of the potato. — Eds.] 



JEggs of Cymatophora Jlavicornis and Diaiithreria cresia. — At page 232 of Vol. 

 xii, I gave some account of the egg of Cymatophora ridens ; since then Mr. Buckler 

 has given me the opportunity of examining the egg of flavicornis, and I find it 

 nearly resembles that of its congener ; it is oblong, not quite cylindrical, being 

 slightly depressed on one side, with one end wider and blunter than the other ; the 

 shell covered all over with a small reticulated pattern — oftener triangular than otlier- 

 wise, and not arranged in regular rows ; the colour dull white, with the raised 

 network slightly glistening ; unless considerably magnified, these details do not show 

 out ; under an ordinary pocket lens, the shell looks slightly granulated. 



So far then I have seen tlio eggs of two species of Cymatophora which do not 

 follow the usual Noctua form, but a still greater deviation is exhibited by the egg of 

 Dianthrecia ccBsia ; on the 18th of last June, Mr. E-. Birchall sent me tliree eggs 

 which he had found in his collecting box, and as he had been taking this species, he 

 concluded they had been laid by a pinned female. Ilowever, on examination, I told 

 him they must belong to some geometer, and, as they proved unfertile, I could say 

 no more ; but, on June 26th, he sent me a single egg, which he had detached from 

 the ovipositor of a female ccesia, thus excluding all doubt. The egg of casia 

 therefore is tlius described : of a short oval outline, full, with very faint indications 

 of a large pattern of pentagonal reticulation all over, but with the knobs at the 

 angle of the pattern prominent ; glossy ; colour dull green, afterwards pale brown. 



After this I shall be glad to see the eggs of other species of Dianthoecia, in 

 order to settle wliether this is a generic, or only a specific (special) peculiarity in the 

 egg state. — John IIkllins, Exeter : Januury XWi, 1877. 



Solo to find the larvw of Triphcpna subsequa. — It may interest your readers to 

 know that January and February (if the weather be mild and damp) is tlie season to 

 take the larva of T. subsequa. I took it first early in January, 1874, by sweeping tufts 

 of Dactylis glomerata, and afterwards took if at night feeding on the common 



