1904.] gj^ 



Several of tlie above named correspondeiils liavo sent nie notices of their 

 captures in previous years, principally in 1902. I would mention the following :— 



Lowestoft - iSen^a ulves, Hb. (mnrithna), not uncommon in one marsli, and 

 Hadena xuasa, Bork., common. 



Kessingland — Aporophijla australix, Bdv., Agrotix pm-cox, L., three in 1902, 

 Noctua glareosa, Esp., in plenty on one night, and Cirrhcedia xerampe/ina, Hb., on 

 ash trunks, this species is sometimes not uncommon at Ilemlcy, where in 1902 

 thirty-six males of Amphidasys prodromaria, Schiff., were taken by " sembling." 



South wold — AcidaJia ornata, Scop., one (Lingwood), in 1902 ; this species is 

 very rare in Suffolk. Ncedham Market— A'a«/Aja aura(ju, Schiff., two specimens. 



Species marked * are new to the county. 



Guestling : March, 1904. 



NOTE ON DROWNING IN LEPIDOPTEROUS LARV^ 

 BY T. A. CHAPMAN, F.E.S. 



I suppose few Lepidopterists have been witliout the experience 

 that larvae placed on a branch of the food plant in water, are very apt 

 to avail themselves of any oversight in the arrangements, and to crawl 

 down into the water and get drowned. 



"When this happens, it most frequently occurs that the larva is 

 asphyxiated when it has crawled about a couple of inches beneath the 

 water, it may then fall off and sink, or remain clinging to the twig 

 till it dies. 



My observations of this occurrence led me to use this means of 

 producing anaesthesia in any larvae I wanted to have quiescent for ex- 

 amination or experiment, as 1 found that a few minutes under water 

 produced a death-like stillness, which, if not prolonged, was com- 

 pletely recovered from, without any apparent ill-effect ; whilst the 

 use of chloroform or any anaesthetic of that sort seemed to produce 

 intense discomfort and usually sickness in nearly all cases, and in fact 

 was seriously damaging, and prejudiced the chance of rearing them. 



I have treated a good many larvae in this way, and few required 

 more than a few minutes' submersion, and none more than a quarter 

 of an hour to become quietly asleep. 



I was much astonished last autumn to meet with a remarkable 

 exception. On October 21st I found a Tortrix larva, which was, I 

 have no doubt, that of Z). petiverella, in a stem of Achillea millefo- 

 lium ; I dropped it into water, and it sank to the bottom. Twenty 

 hours later, on the 22nd, it lay quiet at the bottom of the water, but 

 when touched proved to be quite lively and active. On the 23rd, after 

 forty-eight hours' immersion, when touched it moved freely, but a 

 little sluggishly, and seemed a little swollen. (Many larvae imbibe 



