1883.] 81 



Even if he has no faith in a good result, the essay should have 

 been attempted. As hop is not grown here, I could not make it here 

 easily, but I tried in May, 1880, to bring the plum-tree louse (Phoro- 

 don mahaleh) on hop-leaves in the botanical gardens, and it lived 

 very well on them, and acquired wings. I was not able to follow it 

 longer. 



In his work, Mr. Buckton gives PJwr. mahaleb as a variety of 

 Fhorodon JiumuU ; to me, it is the same insect at different stages of 

 its life. Some English entomologist could easily furnish evidence for 

 or against my hypothesis, for I repeat it is merely an hypothesis, up 

 to this day. 



These are the only faults I find in Buckton's splendid work, 

 which is, for the present, the best book we have on Aphides. 



Montpellier : Qth August, 1883. 



Occurrence of Argynnis JEuphrosyne in Sutherlandshire. — The lower part of 

 the valley of the Eiver Shin is sacred ground in the eyes of the Micro-Lepidopterist, 

 for there, thirty years ago, Mr. E. C. Buxton captured Chalyhe pyrausta. It was in 

 the month of May, 1853, that this occurred, whilst Mr. Buxton was more intent on 

 the pursuit of salmon than of Micros. 



The following May (1854) he captured on the same spot Eaesslerstamviia pronu- 

 hella. Of the habits and food of this latter insect, we are still quite in the dark ; 

 but of Chalyhe (or Psecadia) pyrausta, thanks to Baron von Nolcken, we know the 

 whole history (Ent. Ann., 18G8, p. 153) ; it feeds on meadow-rue {Thalictrum) in 

 July and August. 



I first visited the valley of the Shin in June, 1872, and have since been there 

 in July, 188?, and June, 1883, but I have not yet succeeded in detecting there any 

 Thalictrum, though it is very possible that it may occur plentifully in some limited 

 area, as often happens with plants. 



It was whilst prospecting for Thalictrum a little below the Shin-falls on the 2l8t 

 June, 1883, that I noticed some specimens of an Argynnis on the wing, and found, 

 on capturing them, they were Huphrosyne. This being the very first time I had 

 met with that species in Scotland, all my previous captures for more than forty years, 

 and in many different and distant localities, having been Selene ! 



Mr. E. C. Buxton died of fever in the interior of Africa in August, 1878, but 

 his captm-es of thirty years ago have still an influence upon me, and urge me from 

 time to time to revisit the valley of the Shin, though to do so without a fishing rod 

 is looked upon as a most incongruous proceeding by the anglers I meet with there. — 

 H. T. Stainton, Mountsfield, Lewisham : August Wth, 1883. 



Vanessa polychloros distinguished from Vanessa urticee by a structural charac- 

 ter.— Ijast Saturday, I had a visit from the celebrated Dutch Entomologist, Mr. P. 

 C. T. Snellen, of Rotterdam, who was spending a few days with Mr. W. F. Kirby. 



