42 THE entomologist's record. 



temperature never having been below freezing point. By this means 

 eighty-five per cent, of my larvae survived, while a friend of mine wlio 

 put them on a growing plant lost over seventy per cent. In the same 

 place I successfully reared some larvae of Stilbia anomala. On the 

 other hand a large brood of Epiinda nigra were unfortunately p'lt on 

 a growing dock plant, and have all died. My reasons for objecting 

 to this method are several. First, you can never exclude mould, 

 which is one of the principal enemies of young larvae, to say nothing 

 of the depredations made frequently by the appearance of a cole- 

 opterous larva. Next, we find the foodplant under a glass shade 

 generally in an unhealthy forced state and invariably producing aphides, 

 which, if not detrimental to young larvge, must necessarily worry them 

 considerably. It does not follow, however, that all larvae will thrive 

 under these conditions, as the following case will prove. Some larvae 

 of Phorodesma smaragdaria I had two years ago were kept indoors 

 and died, whereas last autumn I placed another lot of the same in 

 an open cupboard out of doors, but sheltered, and although they were 

 exposed to fog and severe frost, not one of them, I am happy to say, 

 perished. — J. Jager, i8o, Kensington Park Road, Netting Hill. 

 March 2\st, 1891. 



Deposition of Ova by Xylina petrificata (socia). — In response 

 to Mr. Mason's query as to the time of ovi-deposition of Xylina soda 

 I send the following : — Having been asked for some ova of the above 

 I boxed two females on the nth of April, and three days after one laid 

 three eggs, and I posted the moth and eggs to my correspondent. 

 Subsequently the second one laid about twenty ova which hatched out 

 on May 8th. I gave them some half-opened birch leaves and one of 

 lime. They preferred the latter and fed up well upon it, keeping to 

 the underside of the leaves. I have frequently taken the species on 

 sallow in the spring, and think that they always lay their eggs at that 

 season, and not in autumn. I know nothing of Xylina semibrimnea, 

 having never taken it. The young larvae of soda are whitish maggot- 

 like creatures, delicate in constitution, but subsequently- acquire the 

 bright green coloration of the more mature stage. — W. F. de V. Kane, 

 Sloperton Lodge, Kingstown. Jpril ^rd, 1891. 



Note on Homceosoma cretacella {senedonis, Vaughan). — As Mr. 

 Tutt's footnote {Enf. Record, vol. i., p. 326) is calculated to thr(jw 

 grave doubts on my assertion, which he quotes from one of my letters 

 to him, that the larva of H. cretacella " feeds in seedheads both of rag- 

 wort and tansy ^^ I should like to say at once that the statement is per- 

 fectly accurate, and would not have been made unless known to be 

 quite correct. Although, to the best of my belief, ragwort is the only 

 foodplant on which the larva has been met with in England as yet, in 

 Scotland it has been found in the seedheads both of ragwort (Senecio 

 jacobcEa) and tansy {Tanacetuni vulgare). Mr. Tutt's footnote to the 

 effect that, according to Mr. Reid, of Pitcaple, " ragwort is usually 

 called tansy in Scotland," is quite beside the point ; and I learn on 

 excellent authority, that, whatever may be the case round Aberdeen, 

 ragwort is certainly not called tansy in the Perth district. — Eustace 

 R. Bankes, The Rectory, Corfe Castle. March, 1891. 



Capture of Hister marginatus near King's Lynn. — Amongst 

 some Coleoptera captured last season, and sent to Mr. E. A. New- 



