1865.] 133 



Capture of Chirroccvmpa celerio at flowers of Oeranium and Physianthus. — I 

 have pleasure in reporting the capture of a specimen of Chosrocamipa celerio, fresh 

 and in beautiful condition, on the 29th of last mouth, about twenty minutes past 

 six o'clock, or just dusk. I took it with the net whilst hovering over the flowers 

 of a bed of Geranium (Christine) ; this is the second specimen I have taken in the 

 garden at Brantingham, ten miles from Hull. 



I took one in 1846, fast by the proboscis in a flower of Physianthus albicans, 

 the flowers of which are excellent insect capturers ; these flowers are very sweet 

 and attractive, and the stamens are so placed, that the slightest touch by the pro- 

 boscis of an insect entering the nectary, causes them and the anthers to close 

 firmly round it. I have seen this plant with dozens of insects upon it, Plusia 

 gamma in abundance. — K. C. Kingston, Brantingham Garden, near Brough, East 

 York, October Uh, 1865. 



DescHption of the larva of Agrotis aquilina. — Larvae of this species, more than 

 half grown, were kindly obtained for me on the 15th May, 1865, by Mr. T. Last, a 

 naturalist, of the Boroitgh Road, Ipswich, who informed me they were taken under 

 tufts of the common plantain, and advised their having the narrow-leaved plantain 

 as a change of diet ; and from a later communication I learnt that they would eat 

 various low plants, such as poppies, chickweed, knot-grass, and even onions, and 

 that no Galium existed within half-a-mile of their locality, and that in rearing them 

 in captivity, a change and variety in food-plants would be essential to their doing 

 well. The few I had, however, did remarkably well on clover and Plantago lanceo- 

 lata ; they burrowed after the manner of many of the genus, during the day, and 

 crawled forth to attack their food at night, and were full fed by the 20th June, and 

 the perfect insects emerged from July 24th to 29th, varying much in markings, no 

 two specimens being alike, excepting in the general tint of warm brown, peculiar 

 to this species. 



The larva, when full grown, is an inch and a-half long, cylindrical, and rather 

 shining. The head grey-brown, mottled with blackish ; the back dingy brown, a 

 dorsal line of rather paler grey-brown, the sub-dorsal Hne black, edged below with 

 a thin line of grey-brown, and which, like the dorsal line, runs through the blackish 

 plate on the second segment ; to this succeeds a broad stripe of dingy blackish- 

 green, then another thin lino of grey -brown, followed by another broad stripe of 

 dingy blackish-green, the black spiracles being situated along its lower edge ; the 

 belly and legs grey -brown, the warty spots dark brown and not very conspicuous ; 

 the general aspect of the larva very dark and dingy. — Wm. Buckler, Sept., 1865. 



Sterrha sacraria in the Isle of Wight. — I took this species, this year, in the Isle 

 of Wight, nearly opposite to Hurst Castle. I was beating some ftu-ze and grass, 

 when it flew out and settled a few inches from the spot. — J. C. Dale, Glanvillea 

 Wootton, October 5th, 1865. 



Sterrlm eacraria at St. John's Wood. — I possess a fine male sacraria, captured 

 two or three years since by a son of Mr. Hind, the astronomer : this example, 

 which has not been previously recorded, was taken ofi" a fence close by South Bank, 

 Regent's Park.— H. G. Knaggs, Kentish Town, N.W. 



