1888.] 213 



middle, and also ivitli a pale transverse line. Anal plate and feet yellowish-white. 

 It emerges from pupa in the following summer, and has apparently two broods, but 

 the natives are constantly reinforced by fresh arrivals from abroad, and as there is 

 always grain in the warehouse so there, probably, are always larvee feeding in it. — 

 Chas. G. Barrett, King's Lynn, Norfolk : January 16ih, 1888. 



Kole on Micropteryx salopiella, Stn. — The abundance of birch, both trees and 

 bushes, or the heaths in this district afforded me last spring an opportunity, such 

 as I have not had for many years, of renewing my acquaintance with several of the 

 birch-frequenting species of Micropteryx. Purpurella was by far the most abundant, 

 but semipurpurella, unimaculella, and even Sparmannella were to be found in fair 

 numbers, although the last named species, from its partiality to large trees, was 

 more difficult to secure. Yery often the sexes were found paired, and an insight 

 was thus afPorded into the sexual differences in shape and colour of the fore-wings 

 which obtain in some of the species. 



This brings me to the object of the present note. I" found that the females of 

 unimaculella differ from the males in that their fore-wings are rather broader and 

 more ovate, the pale blotch above the anal angle broader and hardly so crescent- 

 shape, but extending more than two-thirds across the wing, and the remainder of 

 the fore-wings beautifully clouded and mottled with purple and golden. When 

 alive these markings were distinct and most noticeable (much more so than they 

 are now), and I thought that I then understood, what has hitherto always puzzled 

 me, why Dr. Wocke, in his (and Staudinger's) " Catalog," sunk salopiella, Stn., as 

 the 9 o? unimaculella, an error which has, of course, been copied elsewhere. 



I am not aware that salopiella has been taken on the continent, or if taken, 

 recognised. It is local in England, but widely distributed, but, as far as I know, is 

 not found in this district. My specimens were taken near Haslemere, Surrey. It is 

 most closely allied to purptirella and Sparmannella, haying the beautifully reticulated 

 crimson-purple and golden markings of the former, with the broad-oval fore-wings 

 of the latter, but its pale spot does not simply occupy the anal angle, but is a broad 

 triangle, having its base on the dorsal margin of the wing and its apex very nearly 

 reaching to the costa. It is altogether distinct from the female oi unimaculella, and 

 yet there is sufficient similarity in the descriptions to excuse one unacquainted with 

 salopiella in making the mistake. — Id. : November 20tk, 1887. 



Coleoptera and frost. — The other day we had a snowstorm, but since then 

 although it has frozen hard every night, the days have been warm and sunny. 

 Walking down to West Cliff this morning, I noted the effect of the frost upon the 

 Coleoptera ; they were assembled in vast numbers under every available piece of 

 wood or stone, presumably for the sake of warmth. It was on the Prairie, and there 

 was no other available shelter, the Yucca, Bigelovia, &c., being useless for this 

 purpose. It seemed as though every stone or log had under it an ants' nest, in 

 which all the ants had become transformed into beetles. Most were Geodephaga, 

 as might be expected — two or three species of Bemhiditim allied to litlorale, a small 

 Pterostichus about the size of strenuus, and an Amara ; also two striped Chryso- 

 melidcB, two species of Coccinella, some CtcrculionidcB, and others, together with 

 some species of Heteroptera, a few small Diptera, an Homopteron of the Cicada 



