1G2 [December, 



Chmrocampa celerio (imago and la/rvm) at Newmarlcet. — I had a beautiful speoi- 

 men of this rare insect brought to mo last October. It was caught one evening in 

 a grocer's shop here. It had ovidently been attracted by the light, and, although 

 caught by a cap, and conveyed to me in a glass, viras scarcely injured. 



During the same month I had four larvse of this insect brought me. They 

 were taken off a grape vine in this town ; one of them was purplish-brown, with a 

 brown horn at the tail ; the other three were green, with brown horns. They each 

 had two spots on the fifth and sixth segments respectively, that nearest the head 

 being much larger than the other. These spots were bright silvery, but, as the 

 larva) drew to their change, and turned very dark, the spots became quite black, 

 with a yellow rim round them. Unfortunately, the brown, and one of the green 

 larvae, died. The remaining two have concealed themselves under some dry leaves 

 in my breeding cage, and I fancy, by their appearance, they will change to pupsD 

 without entering the ground. — F, Postans, Nevrmarket, November l^th, 1865. 



Description of the larva of Agrotis nigricans, with notes on its destructive 

 habits. — On May 11th, 1865, Mr. Doubleday kindly presented me with some larva), 

 which proved to be of this species ; and to that gentleman I am greatly indebted for 

 the following account of their dcstmctiveness in a field often acres, which last autumu 

 was sown with wheat, and with clover in the early part of this year ; the clover 

 came up well, and the field was green with it all over, until these larvaj began to 

 attack it. So prodigious were tljeir numbers and so great their powers of devastation 

 that, by the I7th May, not a leaf of clover, nor even of any weeds, remained out of 

 the whole ten acres, though the wheat was uninjured ; and by that time they had 

 left the open field and gone to the hedge banks and ditches, where a remarkable 

 scene of desti-uction presented itself to view. The large Heracleum and other um- 

 belliferous plants were sfci'ipped of their leaves and, in short, nothing was left 

 but gx'asses, which they did not appear to touch. 



I also received other larva) of this species on the 14th May from Mr. Last, of 

 Ipswich, feeding on Plantago major and lanceolata, and he reported that they liked 

 a change of food, and would eat many low plants ; however, I found they took 

 readily to clover, and, like those before mentioned, continued to feed to about the 

 middle of June, the moths appearing from July 15th to 24th, varying much in 

 their appearance, and becoming active and restless the moment their wings wore 

 dry. 



The larva when full-grown is an inch and a-half long, smooth and cyUndrical. 

 Tho colour of the back ochreous-brown, and in some individuals very bright 

 ochroous ; a thin grey dorsal line, margined with blackish, and running through a 

 series of blackish-brown triangular and diamond shapes, well defined in some 

 individuals, though obscure in others. 



Sub-dorsal line greenish-black, in some varieties quite black, and edged below 

 with a nan'ow line of dirty whitish-green, then a broad stripe of blackish-grcen, 

 followed by another dirty whitish-green, narrow and slightly interrupted, lino, and 

 thou another darker broad stripe of blackish-grecn, along tho lower edge of which 

 are the black spiracles. A double whitish stripe follows, extending down the sides 

 of tiio anal prologs, which is mado by a Une of pale dirty greyish-green, being the 

 colour of tho beUy and prologs, running through the middle of the white. The 



