1897] 151 



length of sixteen inches), and the row could be seen fifty yards away ; 

 but on the rough bark they were less conspicuous, and they harmonized 

 well in colour with the lighter surfaces of chinks and seams, without 

 exactly matching the tint. Among the crowd were a few triplets in 

 cop. ; there were also some cripples ; but the moths seemed to be 

 tolerably constant in pattern of markings. Some straggling larvae 

 were still afoot, varying in grade, and badly off for food. Jf all the 

 eggs hatch out in one season, starvation it would seem awaits the 

 brood. Several big black carnivorous beetle larvae were climbing up 

 from the ground to feed apparently upon the larvae, but they usually 

 let themselves drop down on being approached, and were not observed 

 seizing anything. Ichneumonidce were numerous. 



[This account of the larvae of 0. dispar by Mr. Eaton is very 

 interesting. Lucas, in his " Exploration scientifique d'Algerie," re- 

 cords the insect (see page 377) from the woods round Lake Tonga in 

 the district of La Calle in the years 1840-42 ; but I can trace no 

 further record of it in North Africa till the year 1S81, wdien Oberthiir 

 mentions that Dr. Codet saw the larvae in the neighbourhood of Sebdou 

 (Etudes d'Entomologie, p. 76). The Rev. A. E. Eaton has found 

 it in its old locality, so we may conclude it has remained there 

 since Lucas's time, but it is curious that it has not (apparently) ex- 

 tended much into Algeria, for M. Oberthiir would be sure to have had 

 plenty of so large a species sent him had it been common there. — 

 Gr. T. Bethune-Bakee]. 



REMARKS UPON METHODS OF KILLINQ BIPTERA. 

 BY n. H. MEADE. 



In February last Mr. Saunders commenced in this Magazine some 

 interesting " Hints on Collecting Aculeate Hymenoptera,''' in which he 

 gives directions for preparing a cyanide bottle for the killing of his 

 captures. Until lately I have been in the habit of treating Dijytera 

 in the same manner as he suggests, viz., killing them with the fumes 

 of cyanide, but I have never been quite satisfied with the plan. This 

 salt (cyanide of potassium) is very deliquescent, and it is almost 

 impossible to keep the inside of the bottle dry, even when it is partly 

 filled with scraps of blotting paper. I always found that if any 

 number of flies remained together in the bottle, even for a short time, 

 some of them would become damp and discoloured, and if a few only 

 were left for many hours, or until the next day, they often became 



