NOTES ON COLLECTING, ETC. 137 



have seen a lot of good insects of recent capture set with the com- 

 monest of pins. — R. DuTTON, York. 



If comparatively short and stout pins be used, the points are gene- 

 rally much better. No. lo is a splendid pin (black) (Kirby, Beard and 

 Co.). I have not had much experience with Micros, but No. 17 

 seems fairly good as far as I can find. No. 16 is too weak a point, and 

 No. 15 too long. — Henry J. Turner. 



I like a pin of a decent length, though not awkwardly long. A pin 

 so short that the head only just projects above the thorax, is so difficult 

 to get hold of, even with forceps. I like No. 10 for the smaller 

 Geometers, and I do not think it is too big for the larger Tortrices. It 

 is very annoying when the point turns or the pin bends, and spoils a 

 good insect. No. 17 is very bad in this respect. I have never used 

 No. 15, but should think it would be a suitable pin for the larger. 

 Geometers and I would suggest : — For NocTUyE, No. 8 ; for large 

 Geoinieters, No. 15 ; small ditto, No. 10 ; for Pyrales, Crambites, 

 etc.. No. 10 ; for large Tortrices, No. id ; small ditto. No. 18. — 

 George Balding. 



Steganoptycha subsequana and Tinagma betul^. — Steganoptycha 

 {Coccyx) stibsequana is said to di-ffer from its near ?i\\y pygnicBatia, Hb., 

 in having black lines in the ocellated spot, and in the specimens of 

 subsequana that I have taken, these black lines are always present. 

 The other species I have not seen. Tinagma betulce occurred amongst 

 birch in this county last summer in June and July. — N. M. Richardson. 



Arctia caia. — With reference to my note on the appearance of Arctia 

 caia in Ent. Rec, iii., p. 36, and of the Editor's remark at the end of it, 

 the larvae were kept in a small room upstairs in the house, with the 

 window wide open all day long. I am sorry I neglected mentioning 

 this, as no doubt it is a matter of great importance. The boxes I kept 

 them in were well ventilated, indeed some were covered with leno, so 

 they had plenty of fresh air, being also placed pretty close to the open 

 window, — G. A. Birkenhead, Downs View, Penarth, near Cardiff. 



Aporia crat^gi. — In further reply to Mr. Hodgkinson's note, I 

 may say that the seven specimens mentioned in the E.M.M., vol., 

 xxiv., p, 131, as being taken at Sandwich in 1887, are not the last 

 record of the capture of this species in Great Britain. On the 9th 

 June, 1888, my nephew, Mr. H. M. Briggs, took a specimen at 

 Ramsgate, which was recorded in The Entomologist, vol. xxi., p. 184, 

 and also in The Young Naturalist for that year. — C. A. Briggs, 55, 

 Lincolns Inn Fields. 



Zeuzera pyrina (iESCULi). — Some notes upon the life-history of this 

 species may be worth recording. I find it prefers branches and young 

 trees of about eight inches in circumference ; in trees of larger growth, 

 elms for instance, it affects the upper branches of about that circum- 

 ference. I have rarely found it in the trunks of large trees, in which 

 fact it differs from its relative, Cossus ligniperda, which principally affects 

 the trunks. On the other hand, I have taken them from branches of 

 not more than two inches and a half circumference, and from elm, syca- 

 more, pear, lilac and plane. In the autumn of i88g I observed two 

 little larvae just commencing to burrow, and noted that after going a 

 short distance in the wood, they cover the entrance with a kind of drum- 

 head, which effectually conceals it ; this head is occasionally opened to 



