126 [November, 



of Belfast, one hot day at the end of July, proved to be OcJisenheimeria 

 JBirdella ; it condescended to settle for an instant on a stone, so as to 

 prove its identity by exhibiting its extremely hairy head, and then 

 buzzed away, for I had no means at hand of securing it. It must 

 have been brought in from the country among green fodder, but I saw 

 no other specimen. 



I seized upon the opportunity of Bank Holiday to run over to 

 the Giant's Causeway — upon which I will not expatiate, nor upon 

 the steam and electric trams and their inability to cope with the 

 rush of holiday visitors, nor upon the furious torrents of rain from 

 the north-west which attacked the said visitors and drove them away 

 — but when the wonders of the place had been duly admired, the 

 angles on the columns (from three to nine) duly counted, the customary 

 fees exacted, and " specimens " purchased, I had, in spite of the rough 

 wind, a short hunt after insects. The thrift (Armeria vulgaris) pro- 

 duced a fevf larvae and pupae of SericoiHs littorana, and the rushes a 

 single sleeping specimen of Lgccsna Alexis {Icarus'). AV^hat a result ! 

 but when this single "common blue " came to be examined, it proved 

 to be a female, having, along with dark clouding, some white blotches 

 on the upper-side, and thus was a very satisfactory variety. 



A run round Island Magee on Saturday afternoon disclosed a 

 grand coast of bold cliffs, with indications of the nesting of herring- 

 and black-back gulls earlier in the season (indeed, one young one of 

 the former species was still in the nest), and showed cliffs and banks 

 everywhere beautifully ornamented with the largest harebells I ever 

 saw, but of insects (save P. napi, E. mensuraria, and >S'. lutealis) none, 

 and a careful search of the low coast at the other side of the entrance 

 to Belfast Lough furnished no better result. 



68, Camberwell arove, S.E. : 



Septemher 21th, 1885. 



NOTE ON THE CIECULATION IN EMBEYONIC LAEY^ OE 

 BOTYS SYALINALIS. 



BY WILLIAM R. JEFFREY. 



The subject of the " pulsating dorsal vessel," or heart of insects, 

 which is readily seen in most Lepidopterous larvae, having been 

 alluded to in the pages of this month's magazine, is an inducement to 

 put on record the earliest stage in the life of a larva at which I have 

 been able to witness it. Erom the 5th to the l7th of last August I 

 was engaged at times in watching the development of the embryo in 



