220 * fSeptember, 



In the Ent. Wk. Intel., v, 146-7, Mr. E. S. Edleston, writing from Bowdon, 

 near Manchester, on January l7tli, 1859, says, " The cases of inconspicuella are found 

 here on beech trees . . . ," and begins the following sentence with " The cases of 

 triquetrella are found on large millstone grit stones on the moors . . . :" this can 

 only refer to the Lancasliire moors, for otherwise he would doubtless hare recorded 

 the particular locality, as is the case when he goes on to mention allied species found 

 in " North Wales " and " Cheshire." The heading of Edleston's note, which runs, 

 "On the SolenobicB of Lancashire, &c.," would, if written by him, prove of itself 

 that Lancashire was referred to unless it was otherwise stated, but I expect it was 

 written by Mr. Stainton, so the point must not be pressed. In the " Manual," 

 however, vol. ii, 286 (published March 1st, 1859), Stainton referring certainly (as 

 is evident from a comparison of the two passages) to this so-called triquetrella, says 

 distinctly " Mr. Edleston believes we have a third species occurring near Manchester 

 [these italics are mine — E. R. B.] ; the larva under stones on the moors . . . ." — 

 Eustace R. Bankes, The Rectory, Corfe Castle : July 2nd, 1895. 



[My friend Mr. Bankes is undoubtedly correct in his opinion. My suggestion 

 of " North Wales ?" was a mere guess. When at Liverpool the other day Mr. 

 Gregson assured me that the triquetrella cases were found on the moors near Man- 

 chester.— C. G. B.]. 



Strange choice of food by larva of Dastjcamipa ruhiginea.—Xs the imagines of 

 Dasycampa rubiginea mentioned ante p. 128, kindly obliged me with ova in the 

 spring, I have lately had the pleasure of rearing a small brood of larvae, which 

 throve remarkably well on dandelion. When they wei-e nearly full-fed, I placed on 

 the surface of the soil in the cage, just beneath the fresh dandelion leaves, some 

 dead, curled and very hard and dry alder leaves, gathered last autumn and kept in 

 a dry room ever since. Imagine, therefore, my surprise, when next supplying the 

 larvfB with food, at finding that some of them had actually eaten parts of the dead 

 alder leaves in preference to the juicy ones of the dandelion ! The alder leaves were 

 not removed from the cage until the food was again renewed, by which time but few 

 remains of them were left, the larvte having treated them as they do the dandelion 

 leaves, devouring not only the thinner portions but also the veins and parts of the 

 midribs. The I'cmnants of the alder leaves were by then soft and damp, owing to 

 the moisture in the soil below and in the dandelion leaves above them, but when 

 the leaves were first attacked by the larvae, they must have been still more or less 

 hard and dry, and I cannot understand such a strange choice. Thinking that larvae 

 fed upon such victuals would not be likely to produce moths conspicuous for their 

 size, and having made sure of the facts, I forbore to repeat the experiment. — Id. 



Prof. Charles Cardale Babington, M.A., F.R.S., ,.fc., was born at Ludlow in 

 1808, and died at Cambridge July 22nd, 1895. He was educated at St. John's 

 College, Cambridge, and took his B.A. degree in 1830, and became M.A. in 1833. 

 In 1861 he was appointed Professor of Botany in the University of Cambridge, and 

 was elected Fellow of his College in 1882. By the death of Prof. Babington only 

 one of the original Members of the Entomological Society of London (Mr. W. B. 



