1865.] 281 



you may think, perfectly unconscious ; but just as you arc going to put the box 

 over it, with a jump and a jerk it is gone! and woe betide you if there is the 

 smallest hole in the net. I lost two in this way, to my no small chagrin. As I 

 purpose, if possible, having a search for the larva this next summer, I hope to be 

 able, at a future date, to give further particulars. 



Coleophora niveicostella,. — I took three specimens in Kent by sweeping. 



Coleophora argentula. — I found some hundreds of the larvaa feeding on the 

 seed-heads of yarrow, last October, at Chesterton. From these I hope to be able 

 to breed enough for self and friends. 



Batrachedra ]pinicolella. — Of this I took a long series in Kent, by beating fir trees. 



Phyllocnistis suffusella arid saligna. — Both bred freely, from poplar and willow 

 leaves repectively. — W. Farren, Cambridge. 



Offer to distribute puptv of Olyphipteryx Haworthana. — I shall bo glad to 

 send pupa3 of this insect to any one in want of them, on receipt of box and return 

 postage. — Chas. Campbell, 111, Travis Street, Ancoats, Manchester, 



Another singular instance of parasitism. — The other day, an instance came 

 under my notice of Pieris rapce emerging from the pupa with two of the little 

 yellow cocoons of Ilicrogaster glomeratus, containing pupas, rolled up in the wings. 

 Excepting that the wings never attained their full size, the butterfly was otherwise 

 perfect. Having seen a notice of a similar occurrence in the " Entomologists 

 Monthly Magazine," I think this account may interest the readers of the same. — 

 L. M. S. Pasley, The Craig, Windermere, March 10th. 



[At our request, Miss Pasley has kindly furnished the following additional in- 

 formation : — " There were no protuberances or any external appearance denoting 

 " the presence of Ichneumon cocoons in the pupa. I watched the butterfly coming 

 " out of the chrysaUs skin, and did not perceive the cocoons till the insect was quite 

 '' free from the said skin. I kept the butterfly alive for some days, hoping the 

 " ichneumon flies would appear ; a vain hope, as I suspect they were dead. I can- 

 " not imagine how the Ichneumon larvae could have formed their cocoons inside the 

 " chrysalis without injuring the butterfly more than by merely disabling the 

 " wings." This instance of parasitism is very extraordinary, but may, perhaps, be 

 explained in the following manner : — It is well known that, as a rule, the female 

 Microgaster deposits a large number of eggs in one larva, and it is probable that a 

 larva, once attacked, is freed from further molestation ; the parasites knowing 

 instinctively that the larva could only nourish a certain quantity to maturity. 

 Possibly, therefore, the Microgaster attacking the above larva was disturbed 

 after having laid but very few eggs, and the produce of these was not sufiicient 

 to destroy the Pieris larva. If the parasites had not escaped previous to the trans- 

 formation of their victim into the pupa state, they would naturally be unable to 

 force their way through the hard pupa skin ; and, as it seems, would form their 

 cocoons inside, and be dragged out by the struggles of the butterfly to escape. — Eds.] 



Vanessa Ichnusa. — In answer to Mr. Wilson's note on this form in the April No. 

 of the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, I beg to i-cfer him to Staudinger's 

 remarks on V. urticco and Ichnusa, translated in Eut. Ann., ISSi, pp. 98, 99. In 



