80 [April, 



rucany of them, after feeding, retired to the shelter of the crevices in 

 the lid of the chip box, others hid in the crinkled paper provided for 

 them, and only a small number sought protection among the stems of 

 their food-plant. 



The young larvae as soon as they were hatched were supplied with 

 various kinds of grasses, and I was pleased to see that they selected 

 Poa annua for their food, a plant which is so common and so much 

 more easy to procure and keep fresh than any of the marine grasses, 

 one of which I was afraid they might have selected. This continued 

 to be their food until some of them began to die off at the end of 

 the year, when Dactylis glomerata was added, and this they eat 

 sparingly, but always showed a preference for P. annua, being parti- 

 cularly partial to the flower buds, flowers, and unripe seeds. 



For the first three months the young larvae were kept in glazed 

 jam pots, and a piece of the grass pulled up by the roots, placed in a 

 wide-mouthed bottle full of water, and carefully plugged with cotton 

 wool, stood on the bottom, and so the food kept fresh and sweet for 

 at least a fortnight. Sound the bottle stood pieces of paper folded in 

 accordion pleats, and high enough to touch the lower part of the food, 

 so as to enable any larva that might fall to the bottom of the jar to 

 crawl up again, and also to afford a hiding place during the day. 

 Later on, when the larvae became larger, I found pieces of corrugated 

 paper formed capital hiding places, and now I use this for all kinds 

 of larvae up to within a few days of their becoming full grown, when 

 it must be removed, as the larvae are apt to spin up one over the other 

 in the paper tubes, when of course the lower ones would be unable 

 to emerge. To convert the jar completely into a breeding cage two 

 pieces of bent wire to form a frame for the muslin hood were placed 

 in it, and the hood then drawn over and tied with tape round the top 

 of the jar in the groove for that purpose. These jars make excellent 

 little breeding, cages, but tape should always be used for tying down 

 the muslin hood, as it does not slip like string. I usually twist it 

 twice round the jar and tie as tight as possible. 



{To he continued). 



Quedius xanthopus, Er., at Sherioood. — On October 15tli, 1904, 1 met with a 

 few specimens of this uncommon species. One specimen only was taken under 

 bark of a decayed oak, the remainder occurred in a mass of very rotten, foetid black 

 fungus, on the stump of a cut-down birch. It was quite impossible to identify the 

 species of fungus owing to its extremely decayed condition. I am indebted to Mr. 

 E. A. Newbery for very kindly identifying the insect. — J. KinsoN Tatloe, 

 35, South Avenue, Buxton : March 8th, 1905. 



