138 THE entomologist's record. 



eject the frass. On May 6th, 1890, the larvae were again at work, and 

 still continued to cover the entrance to the burrow, which in a short 

 time becomes very much larger, until, when full-fed, it is large enough 

 to allow the pupa to emerge partly from the burrow, which is then 

 about ten inches in length. I have found the full-fed larvae in the 

 autumn, but have not been able to find them in the spring, and am 

 inclined to think they pass two winters in that state, and pupate early in 

 the spring. I recently cut down a branch, from which a specimen 

 emerged in July, 1887 ; from outside appearance the branch looked 

 quite solid, the only sign of the emergence that remained was a jagged 

 circular piece out of the bark, the wood had grown over and completely 

 covered the large hole made by the larva, but the burrow up the centre 

 of the branch still remained, and the branch was in consequence quite 

 weak. We can well understand from this why branches will break off 

 in a strong wind. — Ambrose Quail, Stamford Hill, N. 



Notes on Zeuzera pyrina. — i8yi was not a pyrina year. I did 

 not see a solitary imago, and only one empty pupa case the year 

 through, albeit continuous observation was kept up in the localities 

 that were so prolific last year. What I did see, however, was abundant 

 evidence that larv^ were feeding all through the period, which, in 

 the preceding years, had been the time of emergence of the imago. 

 I therefore live in hope. The gale of November nth proved too 

 much for the solitary ash tree in the front garden of the house opposite 

 ray own, off which, as recorded in Ent. Rec, vol. i., p. 182, I, in 1890, 

 obtained twenty-seven moths. The tree was snapped off about seven 

 feet from the ground, and an examination of the carcase was an 

 interesting study in economic entomology. The larvse appear, in the 

 first instance, to bore into the tree more or less horizontally, that is, 

 directly across the channels up which the sap flows from the root to the 

 leaves ; the functions of such channels as may thus be interfered with 

 is, of course, arrested, and sap can no longer flow up them. Having 

 reached a greater or less distance from the bark, the larva changes its 

 course and feeds upwards or downwards, returning again towards the 

 bark and excavating a considerable cavity immediately under the bark 

 before pupation. It follows from this, that the extent of injury to the 

 tree depends partly on the size of the tree and partly on the number 

 of larvae feeding in it. Where the tree is a large one it would take a 

 very considerable number of larvae to destroy so many sap channels as 

 would seriously interfere with the vitality of the tree as a whole, 

 although some branches may have to pay the penalty ; but in the case 

 of saplings and small trees, a few larvae may work very great havoc. 

 Newman says (p. 18) : — "We have even observed that fruit trees thus 

 infected bear more abundantly than those which are perfectly healthy." 

 If this be so, it is probably due to the limitation of the area of 

 nutrition and is somewhat akin to pruning. — Francis John Buckell, 

 32, Canonbury Square. 



Strange Pabulum for Larv^. of Cossus ligniperda. — During 

 the months of August and September, 1891, I had about two dozen 

 larvae of the above-mentioned species brought me from diff"erent 

 quarters, many of which were nearly, if not quite full-fed. I placed the 

 lot in a large tin, into which I put a lot of old corks, thinking that they 

 would spin up more easily in that soft material than by my former process. 



