90 THE entomologist's UErORT). 



(We believe that Merrin's error lias previously been discussed in tbe ento- 

 mological magazines. The moth has a long period of emergence when 

 the meteorological vagaries of different years are taken into account, 

 although not specially prolonged for any given season. The imago may 

 occur from February to May, the larva^ from May to August, according 

 to the season in which they are found. It alwaj's, we believe, passes tlie 

 Avinter in the pu})al state and sometimes goes over two seasons. — En.) 



Ephestia iviiiiNiELLA IN Aberdeensuike. — Last autumn, a baker, 

 in the little village of Monymusk, Aberdeenshire, complained to me 

 that " maggots " liad got among his Hour. On examination, 1 discovered 

 that they were the larva? of E. huhnieUu, which were swarming both 

 outside and inside some of the sacks. Many of them were in the act 

 of pupating, and I noticed that they always attached their cocoons to 

 the sides of the bags, and never spun them loosely among the flour. — 

 A. H. HoKNE, Aberdeen. Feb. 1894. 



NvssiA HisrinARiA. — The paper by Mr. Bajme, published in tliis 

 month's Record, has induced me to send you the following notes on this 

 species. The first thing that strikes an angler, is the Avonderful 

 resemblance of tlie ^ to tlie large-winged artificial fly, called " the 

 Alder ; " the thorax and body resemble in a remarkable degree, 

 botli in colour and texture, the fuzzy body of the fly. Again, no 

 description that I have read, does justice to the extreme beauty of 

 the fringe of the wings, which, if held to the light, will be seen to be 

 of a most beautiful sheeny gold, veiy much the colour of I'lmin 

 chrydtis, only lighter and brigliter. So far as I am aware, the moth 

 has not been taken in this neighbourhood till this year, and I was mucli 

 surprised to find, on the morning of Jan. 31st, a freshly-emerged $ in 

 my breeding cage, from a ^jupa which I had dug here a week previously, 

 at the root of a poplar. On Fel). 8th, I found another ^ in my illumi- 

 nated trap, and between that date and March 6th, took eight more in 

 the trap. It is curious that, though I have dug here regularly, and 

 have found hundreds of pupa% 1 never before came across one of this 

 species; and that, though during the Avhole of January, February and 

 March of last year, my trap was set nightly in the same spot as this 

 year, I never took a specimen of it. i\.ll my ten specimens have abroad 

 band towards the hind margin, lighter tlian the rest of the wings, 

 which extends over about one-fourth of the fore wings, and one-half of 

 the hind-Avings. In one sjiecimen this band is (|uite Avhite, the re- 

 mainder of the fore Avings being greenish-broAvn, and of the hind Avings 

 very light ashy-grey. Some of the specimens are of a very light 

 ochreous- green, others are verj- dark, Avhile still others are intermediate 

 in shade ; in fact, the series shows much the same range of colour, as I 

 find in my series of Biston liiriaria. I have also taken this year, for the 

 first time in this neighbourhood, A><j)hiili(i ^fiairicornis ; one specimen in 

 my trap, anotlier bred from a dug pupa. Taeniocnmpn tiimuhi is plentiful 

 here this year, as it Avas also last year. ^Ir. Prout suggests that there 

 must be some kind of connection betAveen Avinter emergence, and the 

 occurrence of ai)terous J s, and considers Orgyia a casual exception, due 

 to some different cause ; I had myself been struck by the coincidence, 

 and am inclined to think there may be more than mere coincidence in 

 it, but still the vicAV is not free from difficulties. Can Mr. Prout tell 

 us Avhat is the " different cause " Av^hich accounts for the apterous J s of 

 Or(jyi(i, and Avhy the same cause should not also account for those of the 



