20S February, 



also there, for I got two speciraens, one of which had apparently newly come out. 

 Miselia oxyacanthce, Miana liferosa, TriphcBna promiba, and one or two other species, 

 were there too. In point of number, I have never beheld such an assemblage of 

 moths. . This surely shows that it is not useless to sugar near ivy when it is flowering. 

 — W. Sandison, 43, Govan Eoad, Glasgow. 



Query as to breeding Agrotls agaihina. — The difSculty of rearing this moth from 

 the larva has, I believe, been solved and published during my recent absence abroad. 

 I am very anxious to see the plan recommended, but cannot learn in which magazine 

 the publication took place. May I ask for this information from the readers of this 

 Journal ? — G. Noejian, Cluny Hill, Forres. 



Xysmatodoma melanella and Solenohia pomoncB. — I am much pleased that 

 attention has again been directed to the problem of the life-history of Solenohia 

 pomoncB and X. melanella. Mr. Boyd, before pubKshing his note on the subject, 

 kindly forwarded it to me ; and although I fear I am not quite convinced that my 

 view of the subject is wrong, still I thank him for the kind and courteous way he 

 has approached the subject. 



I suppose I have had more opportunities of studying the history of pomoncB 

 than most entomologists, as I have collected, since I first found the species, many 

 thousands of the cases in the hope of discovering the male form. From the time of 

 my first finding the species until the year when my notes appeared in the Magazine 

 (18G9), I had been in communication, respecting these cases, with my esteemed friend, 

 the late Mr. Doubleday. I had sent Mm, at different times, hundreds of the cases ; 

 and it was acting under his advice, and after I had submitted my notes to him, that 

 they appeared in the Magazine, he thinking, with myself, that, even supposing my 

 view of the subject to be incorrect, still a sufficient amount of attention might be 

 brought to bear on the life-history of pomoncB to solve the puzzle of its singular 

 economy. 



I will now briefly state my experience of pomonce and melanella, so that the 

 present position of the subject may be clearly defined ; and I hope the matter, deeply 

 interesting as it is, will not again be lost sight of until solved finally beyond doubt : 

 and should the solution prove adverse to the view I propounded, still my object in 

 bringing it forward will be accomplished. 



The first year I found the cases was, I think, either 1855 or 1856 ; but, upon 

 submitting them to an entomological friend, he thought they would prove dipterous, 

 an opinion, I believe, shared at the time by Mr. Stainton. I, however, collected a 

 lot of the cases ; but, as I apparently bred neither flies nor moths, I threw them 

 away. A closer examination of the larva the next season proved them to be lepi- 

 dopterous, and I collected several thousand cases, a large proportion of wliich I 

 divided among my correspondents, as it was evident the species, when bred, would 

 prove a now one to Britain. I was very successful this time in rearing specimens, 

 but all were of the apterous form ; and the singularly long ovipositor for a lepi- 

 dopterouB insect at once showed its distinctness from any other known species. 

 Several of my entomological friends, to whom I sent cases, were also successful in 

 rearing them, but with like results to myself, only apterous forms appearing. 

 • We thought, perhaps, the next year we should succeed in breeding the male 



