246 [March, 



numbers. I have notices of about t-wenty specimens having been captured, and fully 

 as many more seen on the wing, within the two counties. Most of them were taken 

 or noticed between the 20th and 31st of August. All have white bordered wings, 

 except one, which being a very fine specimen, is, I think, worthy of a little more 

 notice from its having the wing borders decidedly yellow, and not white or yellowish- 

 white. "When placed amongst a series from Central Europe, it is found to be per- 

 fectly identical in coloiir, and can only be sepai-ated therefrom by the different 

 pinning and setting. This specimen, which is now in the cabinet of my friend, Wm. 

 Maling, Esq., was taken in Jesmond Dene, near Newcastle, on the 23rd of August, 

 about 11 a.m., and, from its absolutely perfect condition, and sluggish flight, had 

 evidently only very recently left the chrysalis. When first noticed, it was sitting 

 amongst low herbage near some willows, and when approached flew heavily up to the 

 branch of a tree, fi-om where, on being dislodged by clods of earth, it fell to the 

 ground, and was taken by the captor with his finger and thumb. — Thomas John 

 Bold, Long Benton, Newcastle-on-Tyne : January 2oth, 1873. 



Butterflies at sea. — In the " Abhandlungen vom naturwissenchaftlichen Vereine 

 zu Bremen," Band 2, Heft 2, pp. 297—298 (1872), Herr F. Buchenau notices the 

 occurrence of swarms of Pieris IrassiccB at sea, off the mouth of the Weser. In the 

 middle of July, 1872, he made a sea-excursion on board a fishing boat from Bremer- 

 haven. So long as the boat was in the river, or at its mouth, only an occasional 

 ' cabbage-white ' was to be seen crossing the river, and soon disappearing. But, when 

 once out at sea, the boat was enveloped in a swarm of these butterflies, so thick as to 

 resemble a snow-storm. The weather was hot, and the surface of the sea undisturbed 

 by any wind. Many of the insects were to be seen posing themselves with erect 

 wings on the surface, others were lying flat on it, as if dead, but flew away rapidly 

 if disturbed. They were accompauied by Dragon-flies {^Eschna sp.) which evidently 

 preyed upon them, and also by small flies and ichneumons. Herr L. Hiipke (in a 

 foot-note) mentions a similar occurrence in a neighbouring locality in July, 1868. — 

 Eds. 



Natural History of Acidalia incanaria. — I am indebted to Mr. J. E. Fletcher, 

 of Worcester, for the opportunity of renewing my acquaintance with the larva of 

 this species ; some eggs kindly sent by whom, loose in a quill, on the 26th of July, 

 1872, hatched on the 2ud of August following. 



The young larvae fed from the first on Polygomim avicuJare, tliriving so fast that 

 one had changed to a pupa by the 31st of August, several others by the 5th of 

 September, and more by the 14th ; the remainder being attacked and killed by 

 mildew when approaching pupation. The first moth appeared on the 14th of 

 September, the others between the 26th of that month and the 3rd of October. 



The egg is of a rather long oval shape, a little depressed on part of its surface, 

 with the shell very finely reticulated, and of a deep flesh colour, turning to brown 

 two days before hatching. 



The young larvae at first, and for some time, were of a pale ashy grey tint above, 

 and darker grey beneath; resting often with their front segments curled imder; 

 at the end of a fortnight they were sufficiently grown to show their distinctive 

 characters very well : at the end of another week, varieties in their colom-ing began 

 to appear, and from this time they were generally in straight postures on their food- 

 plant, and, even when disturbed from it, they remained rigid, as if feigning death. 



