46 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



the foodplant they were reared on ; a sufficient proportion fail to do 

 so, to provide individuals to go in search of other quarters, \\hich we 

 know also they succeed very largely in doing ; how, we do not quite 

 know, whether they have some special instincts, or whether it is pure 

 accident, and that the successes are only a small percentage of the 

 failures we do not know. It is tolerably certain, however, that many 

 larvte and other insects have some faculty when on the ground for 

 making their Avay to the nearest tree-trunk, and these moths have 

 probably a good share of this mother wit. 



The object of the loss of the wings, then, is to keep the moths 

 tolerably close to the plant on which it was reared, or at least in the 

 thicket or hedgerow, which probably contains many other plants of 

 the same species. A fair or even large proportion will thus secure a 

 proper place for laying their eggs, and the continuation of the species 

 is secured. How about the winter moths with winged females, how 

 do they meet this difficulty '? The first question perhaps is, do they 

 succeed in meeting it. I have suggested that some of them are really 

 late autumn and early spring species, that manage their egg-laying 

 just before vegetation sleeps in the autumn, or innnediately it wakes 

 in the spring. Hiniera pennaria is clearly in training for becoming 

 apterous, it is on the margin, and keeps its place, partly by the 

 females being averse to flying, partly by not emerging whilst it is 

 absolute winter. 



It is very possible that some meet the difficulty by a large increase 

 in their powers of smell. I'oei-ilocaiiipa po})uli belongs to a group in 

 which the sense of smell is remarkably developed, at least, so it is 

 usually supposed ; whilst Ptiloji/mra pluniiiicfa has remarkably well- 

 developed antenna' in the male, for no very obvious reason, since other 

 Avinter moths require no increase of male smell-sense. These antennae 

 "may then be a reflection to the male of the response made by the female 

 to the necessity for increased olfactory power. These two species are 

 certainly amongst the most definitely winter moths of the winged 

 section. 



drOLEOPTERA. 



Notes on Coleopteka taken in Wigtownshire. — I am writing these 

 notes on beetles collected at odd times in the hope that they may 

 prove of interest to some few, from the fact that the county is quite 

 unworked in that order, as far as I know, and that must be my excuse 

 for mentioning the very common species. My thanks are due to Mr. 

 Donisthorpe, the Rev. Mr. Gorham, and Professor Hudson Beare, who 

 have most kindly identified many of the species. The only insect 

 taken in January was a single XI ft us liololcucus, Fald., flying by the 

 roadside on the 25th. But in February more work was done. A pair 

 of Ptiniis fur, L., Avere taken on a window, several Ci/c/iraa m.stratit.'i, 

 L., among dead leaves, and JJi/j/era )uiirirnstns, F., and Lathrlniacinn 

 unicolor, Steph., under stones ; rotten wood produced Mi/cctoporiia lepHus, 

 Gr., Daptolinii.s altciiianx, Pk., and PntsiUa catialiviilata, F. On tree 

 stumps, Duiijtoimis iiiacidatiis, Marsh., Apiun fruinentariiuu, L., Aciduta 

 crenata, F., and Fdatcr halteatiis, L., turned up, and several Geotnijies 

 ti/phacits, L., were obtained, after a considerable amountof digging, from a 

 large colony on a moor. Having nothing much to do in March 1 collected 

 on every available day, taking, m rotten wood — Luricera piLlcorms, F. ; 



