280 THK RN'TdMOr.OlilST's RECORD. 



(loptera, Diptera, Coleoptera. " See ! there's Orr/iodia cri/tltriKriilKila, 

 I am sure it is, but I can't box it ; it is covered by Kriiltinns mandatus, 

 as is (i-eotnipes by its parasites — Ah ! 'tis gone, lost to Science, eaten 

 by a horde that runs with majestic gait ! " Spiders, centipedes and 

 earwigs crawl and hop and jump and swing, one great mass, one 

 struggling crowd of the lower TracJwata. " The sheet is rising ! Oh ! 

 the slugs and earwigs, the woodlice, centipedes and springtails ! Help, 

 help, help, they sting and crawl and bite !" 



The linoleum was cold, and the bed had to be carefully re-made 

 before it was ajjain habitable. 



:^OTES ON LIFE-HISTORIES, LARVAE, &c. 



LiFK-iirsToRY OF Cocc'Yx CDSMopiioRAXA. — I have had considerable 

 experience in breeding this species, having found larvte in Argyleshire, 

 Perthshire, Inverness and Morayshire. I have obtained larvae feeding 

 in various ways, and they do not seem to be at all particular as to the 

 method adopted. I have, for instance, bred them from the ex- 

 crescences of Iti'tinia reainana freely, from those of Plu/n's ahivtdla, 

 from galls, from small excrescences on young firs, and from resinous 

 exudations on old fir trunks. This species may also be bred from 

 native fir cones, feeding only where I '. ahictdla has been domiciled. I can 

 always obtain both larva^ and pupte of this species. — W. Salvage, 12, 

 Montreal Road, Brighton. Fchruunj lltit, 189G. 



Habits of little-known species. — The larva of ( '(iccij.r lu'iiinn'ra- 

 (jiuta mines the leaves of Arctostap/iifllds vr((-uisi. The larva of 

 .v. cunifrrana feeds in the resinous matter from young and old Scotch 

 firs, whilst I have found those of P. ahictiila in old fir-cones, gallsand 

 dead wood. — Ikid. 



The habit of lauv.e of Boarmia roboraria in spring, in nature : 

 a query. — In the last Ent. UrcnnJ, p. 245, Mr. Tutt has given an 

 interesting note about the feeding of the hybernated larva of lioannia 

 rnhnraria. I should like to ask, Does he consider it a natural habit, or 

 is it an experience from breeding only '? Do the New Forest collectors, 

 for instance, take the larva in March before the oak buds are opening, 

 and have they found it eating the bark ? The only note on the 

 subject I am able to lay hands on at present is one by Mr. Tutt 

 (h'lit. Rrcord, vol. iv., p. 158): "I sleeved them (autumnal larva' of 

 />'. nih,)r(iri((, l)red from ova) on birch, and they were awake long- 

 before the birch was out, but they ate the bark and got fat on it." 

 Can we rightly judge of natural habits from breeding under what 

 must always be somewhat artificial conditions ? The protection of a 

 sleeve and its environment, generally a garden with buildings about 

 it, keep the larva warmer ; it is unable to follow its predilections as 

 to suitable hybernating quarters, and has to put up with the limita- 

 tions of the sleeve ; may it not therefore probably be more easily 

 roused in response to the stimulus of heat ? If so, finding the buds 

 not ready, may it not be driven to eat the bark to avoid starvation ? 

 When l)rec(ling insects, and I have forgotten to supply them with 

 food, I have occasionally noticed the outer coverings of the stem or 

 bark nibbled.— W. S. Riding, M.D., F.E.S., Buckerell. .}farch 'dni, 

 1896. 



