44 THE entomologist's record. 



many more could have been captured. Bemhidiina rlarJd, Daws., is a 

 common beetle on the banks of this reservoir. — H. C. Dollman. 



Gymnetron villosulus, Gyll. — This very local Khyncophoran was 

 found in the greatest profusion on aquatic plants at St. John's 

 Pond, Cambridge, during June. It was found on Verunica anai/allis, 

 but also on many other water-plants. I'ananaeus crux-major, L., was 

 not uncommon at the margins of the pond, while StenulopliusreHpertinus, 

 Panz., and Beinhidiinn jiavimulatiwi, Clairv., simply swarmed. — 

 H. C. Dollman. 



:^OTES ON LIFE-HISTORIES, LARY^, &c. 



The Larval Habits of Peronea cristana, Fab. — In the introduc- 

 tion to his valuable notes on " Peronea crhtana, Fab., and its aberra- 

 tions," published, in 1901, in Ent. Hec, xiii., the late Mr. J. A. Clark 

 wrote as follows (p. 227): " Little, indeed, seems to be known of its 

 life-history. Like myself, many have bred odd examples of the species, 

 the larvns having been obtained by general beating, and without actual 

 knowledge of the species, until after pupation had taken place and the 

 imagines had emerged." He then stated his belief that the larvcTB feed 

 on the lichen growing on whitethorn, although quite aware that they 

 have been recorded by Merrin, Meyrick, and Sorhagen, as feeding on 

 the leaves of various trees and shrubs. The purpose of this note is to draw 

 attention to a most interesting record, of which Mr. Clark was evidently 

 unaware, with reference to the larval habits. In Trans. Chick, and IT. 

 .Sussex Nat. Hist, and Micr. Sac, 1885-6, p. 70 (1886), Mr. W. H. B. 

 Fletcher stated that he had bred P. cristana " from larvfe on flowers 

 and fruits of Pyrus aria" collected in Arundel Park, and in his "Cata- 

 logue of Sussex Lepidoptera," pubhshed in 1905, in the Victoria History 

 of Sussex, he gives the species as occurring in " Arundel Park, where 

 the larvse feed on the flowers and young fruits of Ptjrm aria, and doubt- 

 less also on those of the hawthorn there and in many other places on 

 the downs." I learn from my friend that, although the number of 

 imagines reared was limited, his experience was quite sufficient to 

 prove that, in Arundel Park, it is a regular habit of these larvie, as 

 well as those of Pijrodcs rltccdiella, Clerck, to feed in the manner 

 described. From the insect's haunts in the New Forest, Pi/rus aria is 

 absent, and since the moth occurs there among old hawthorn-trees, 

 and is often plentiful, one can have little doubt that the larva^ normally 

 feed, as suggested by Mr. Fletcher, with regard to various Sussex 

 localities, on the young flowers and fruits thereof. Cannot some lepi- 

 dopterist living in a district frequented by P. cristana, settle this 

 point by breeding the moth from hawthorn flowers and young fruits, 

 and also give us details about the larva and pupa, which appear to be 

 undescribed ? It is certain that the larva sometimes lives in, and feeds 

 upon, united or roUed-up leaves of hawthorn, for the evidence of 

 Messrs. W. Machin and W. Weston, as quoted by Barrett in Lep. Brit. 

 Ides, X., p. 46 (1905), is conclusive on this matter, but, after review- 

 ing all the ascertained facts, it seems reasonable to suppose that, when 

 plenty of flowers and young fruits of the chosen food-plant are avail- 

 able, the larv^e will be found among these, but, in the years when they 

 are insufficient in quantity, a search among the leaves will be found 

 more or less profitable. — Et-stace R. Bankes, M.A., Norden, Corfe 

 Castle. January 3rd, 1909. 



