42 LJ"i.y, 



irregular blotch down the I'rout of each lobe, forked at the side, and a round spot on 

 the face between them, and two pairs (sometimes more) of black dots on the second 

 segment ; the pale lines of the back are absent from the second segment and from 

 the anal flap ; the anterior legs generally dotted with black. One of Mr. Jeffrey's 

 larvse furnished a good variety ; its colour was a dingy, rather olive-brown, with the 

 lines of a pale pinkish-grey, with only the usual black marks on the head, second 

 segment, and anterior legs. 



My first set of larvae I furnished with earth and moss for pupation, with the 

 result of causing the death of all but two, which produced crippled insects ; the se- 

 cond set were supplied with pieces of bai'k, into which they coidd bore, and I now 

 understand that a dead stick, or piece of dry, decaying wood would have been better 

 still ; for the habit of the larva is to excavate in the solid bark or wood a smooth, 

 cylindrical chamber (reminding one much of the work of some of the carpenter 

 bees) just big enough — without the least waste of space — to accommodate the pupa 

 with the shrivelled larva skin behind ; the circular entrance to the chamber is 

 stopped with the gnawed raspings of the wood mixed with silk, but there is no 

 silken lining to the chamber itself ; the pupa lies with its head towards the entrance, 

 and, after the exit of the moth, the empty pupa-skin remains in the chamber. 



The pupa is about half-au-inch long, cylindrical and uniform, except a rapid ta- 

 pering at the tail end, and tolerably smooth, except at the abdominal divisions, where 

 there are rings of minute points ; the abdomen terminates in a thick, blunt, some- 

 what flattened knob, furnished with two spikes, which, instead of projecting as usual 

 in the same line with the body (or knob), turn off at right angles on either side; 

 the colour a shining, dark red-brown. — Id. 



Laroce of Euplthecia jji/i/nicbala. — I have much pleasm-e in announcing that I 

 have two larvie of Eupithecia pygmcieata feeding on flowers of Stellaria holostea, and 

 I hope that before long they will be sufliciently grown to have their description taken 

 by my friend Mr. Crewe. 



Mr. Hodgkinson most kindly sent me a female moth, the only one he has cap- 

 tured this year, but unfortunately she died after laying but three eggs. Mr. Hodg- 

 kinson tells me he cannot find Stellaria Jiolostea growing in the locality for the 

 moths ; but Herr Carl Plotz, to whose books of beautiful drawings reference has 

 been made before in these pages, had figured the larva on that plant, and I found 

 my larvae take to it quite readily, as if it were their natural food ; I shovdd say they 

 eat a little of the petals of the flowers, but seem to prefer the anthers and pollen. — 

 J. Hellins, Exeter: lltli June, 1872. 



Captures uf Lepidoptera near Aljerdeen in 1871. — In the following list, I shall 

 merely mention the scarcer species of Lepidoptera which fell to my lot last summer, 

 as a complete list of those hitherto found in this district will be given in the list of 

 Scottish Lepidoptera now appearing in the ' Scottish Naturalist.' 



The localities in which I collected last summer are all in Aberdeenshire and the 

 north of Kincardineshire, and, excluding Braemar (which is 50 miles from Aberdeen), 

 none of them is over 20 miles from that town. The chief localities, besides Aberdeen 

 itself and the immediate neighbourhood, were Muchalls, on the coast a few miles 

 south, Banchory in the valley of the Dee, and Inverury (where I collected with Mr. 

 Tail), about 12 miles from the sea. 



