183,-1.] 27 



[We are of opinion that the time of the Editors of this Maga- 

 zine, or of a Committee such as suggested, can be much more usefully 

 employed, and that such work should be relegated to those authors 

 specially concerned, as occasion may require. — Ens.] 



Lithocolletis messaniella in November. — On November 5th, I found a fresh 

 specimen of L. messaniella in Highgate Wood ; and on the 10th, two other speci- 

 mens on a fence, in company with Cheimatobia brumata. The species was common 

 in May, and again in August, and as the August brood had disappeared for quite 

 two months, these November specimens must have been a partial third brood. — 

 C. W. Watts, Hampstead : November 18th, 1894. 



A remarkable source of attraction to NoctucB. — On September 22nd last, I was 

 enjoying the hospitality of my friend Mr. Griffiths, at his lodgings at Bembridge 

 (Isle of Wight), and in the evening of the same day we made our way to a small 

 wood in the neighbourhood, to see what it might afford us in the way of Lepidoptera. 

 The prospect was not encouraging, much rain had fallen during the day, the herbage 

 was soaked, and the few trees we sugared only yielded among them a wasted 

 specimen of Amphipyra pyramidea. 



On our return our lanterns happened to be directed on to the hedge, a gap in 

 which had been partially filled up with some hawthorn boughs, cut a few weeks 

 previously apparently, and with the dead leaves still attached, and which were 

 emitting the peculiar odour which leaves, withered green on a branch, give o£P on 

 saturation with moisture. To our great surprise we noticed quite a crowd of Noctum 

 thereon, and a closer examination revealed the fact that the moths were busily 

 engaged in sipping the moisture on the withered foliage. The species present con- 

 sisted mainly of Xanthia silago, which was in abundance, together with a few 

 Phlogophora meticulosa, Anchocelis lunosa, and Xanthia ferruginea. Owing to the 

 thickness of the bush and undergrowth, we were unable to identify (much less box) 

 all the visitors at this novel feast. The moths would slip down into the herbage if 

 disturbed, only to fly up again in a few minutes and resume their meal. This 

 peculiar attraction seemed to have been superior to sugar or to flowers, as no moths 

 were observed on the heads of ragwort and hemp-agrimony growing close by. — R. 

 M. Peideatjx, Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight : November 22,nd, 1894. 



Ibalia cultellator, Latr. — Two specimens of this rare insect, well known from 

 Curtis's plate, have been communicated to Mr. Bignell, who sent them to me to be 

 determined. They were taken in March, 1888, by Mr. J. Gardner, at Hartlepool, 

 where Sirex juvencus, L., is unusually common in old pit-props. The Ibalia has 

 long been supposed to be a parasite of Sirex, and the circumstances of its capture 

 at Hartlepool leave little room to doubt that this is the case. Its rarity probably 

 results from mere want of observation : at a distance it much resembles an Ichneu- 

 TDonid of the Campoplex genus, and might easily be neglected when seen, like the 

 rest of that family. The Sirex, though local, is found in considerable colonies where 

 it occurs, and each of them is likely to be attended by a proportionate number of 

 the parasites. The older writers, as remarked by Curtis, conjectured Ibalia to be a 



