116 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



for the removal of " grease." He powders it up finely, puts it in a 

 box, and rests the wings of the "greasy" subjects on it. He covers 

 the bodies, having first cut off a portion of the underside and extracted 

 as much of the contents as possible. We shall be glad to hear from 

 any of our readers who may try the experiment. 



Mr. W. J. H. Simmons records {Kntmu., November) the capture of 

 a male Catocala fra.rini near Folkestone. 



Mr. W. T. Sturt states {Kntaiii., Nov.) that he has received 

 from a non-entomological friend four larviB of SjiJdn.c convolruli, which 

 had been found by a fisherman feeding on L'unvolndus arrcnsis, at 

 Whitsand Bay, Cornwall. One had pupated at the date of his com- 

 munication (Oct. 21st), the others were still feeding. 



^g^EYIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS. 



Dorset LEpmopTERA in 1892-3, with description of the larva 

 OF Epischnia bankesiella, by N. M. Richardson, B.A., F.E.S. 

 [Dorchester: ''Dorset Countij Chronicle'' 'Pnntmg Works.] — This 

 little pamphlet of a dozen pages is written in a most interesting style, 

 and is full of important matter ; it is illustrated by a chromo-litho- 

 graph plate of Lita snacdella, Lita ocelhitella and Lita plantagineJla, 

 depicting the imagines, larvag and food-plants. The plate reflects the 

 greatest credit on the artist, Mrs. Richardson. Mr. Richardson discusses 

 the abundance of < 'alias edusa in 1893, of Pyrameis cardui in 1892, and 

 of ('hrysoi)hanus phloeas in 1893, also the early appearance of Thymelicus 

 actaeon in 1893, as well as the occurrence of many rarities in the same 

 year. The three species of Lita from Chesil Bank, referred to above, 

 are described in full, whilst the life-history of Epischnia bankesiella 

 is a good piece of work, representing as it does the discovery of some- 

 thing new to science, and the clearing-up of the facts connected with 

 the life-history of one of our most obscure and least-known species. 

 Without mentioning the food-plant, Mr. Richardson describes the 

 " oval, flattened, beautifully iridescent " eggs, " covered with very 

 minute holes and small wavy ridges, enclosing numerous little 

 spaces with from three to six sides each." The larva " from its 

 earliest days spins a sort of nest round itself on a shoot of its food- 

 plant and after a time, when this nest attains some size, lives in 

 a silken tube in the middle of it, coming out at night to feed upon the 

 leaves. In the autumn it thickens the middle portion of this tube, 

 and there passes the winter. In the spring it seeks fresh food, and 

 constructs another nest. About May it closes up the ends of its silk 

 tube, forming a rather strong cocoon, turns to a pupa, and emerges in 

 June or July." In 1893 there was a partial second brood of the 

 moth, but this is probably quite unusual. A full description of the 

 larva and pupa is added, with notes on the variation of the imago, 

 some specimens being very pale, almost cream-coloured, with dark 

 grey markings on the veins and elsewhere, whilst one specimen of the 

 ordinary cinereous grey form has very distinct and dark transverse 

 lines. The similarity of the moth to an accidental slight excrescence 

 on a piece of stick or on a dead stem is very striking. 



Frail Children of the Air, by Samuel H. Scudder [Houghton, 

 Mifflin & Co., The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A. Price 6s.] . 

 —-We read these delightful essays some years ago. We have read them 



