1881.] HI 



its old haunts, it may be worth while to record that it occurs locally but not uncom- 

 monly in the Norfolk fens, sometimes being of unusually large size. 



The trip was a great success — fishing, boating, rowing, sailing, even shell col- 

 lecting in the day-time, moth collecting at night — happy circumstances to be a boy, 

 and have some spare time ! — Id. 



Curious variety of Hepialus humuli. — Of the very few insects that have fallen 

 in my way this season, one seems worthy of record. It is a £ of Hepialus humuli, 

 found sitting one afternoon on a hedge bank, just emerged. The apical third part 

 of its silvery- white fore-wings was distinctly tinged with delicate pink, not following 

 any line or pattern but simply an extension over part of the wings of the lovely pink 

 colour of the apical cilia. When alive the patch of colour was very distinct, but it 

 is fading and in all probability will before very long disappear. — Id. 



The ravages of the larvce of Charceas graminis in Thuringia. — On the 14th of 

 June last, the foresters informed me that, in a certain district of the Obergehren 

 Forest, caterpillars, of which they sent some examples in spirits, had made great 

 havoc in the pastures, and were so abundant that as one walked over the infested 

 ground they crackled under foot. I recognised at once larvae of Charceas graminis, 

 and advised what could be done to prevent their ultimate increase, but I was unable 

 to visit the place on the Eennsteig, about 2000 feet elevation, until the 28th June. 

 The locality worst infected was a wood-clearing of about 90 acres ; all the pasture 

 had become entirely withered in consequence of the roots of the grass having been 

 eaten by the caterpillars, whilst in other parts the vegetation flourished green. At 

 the time of my investigation the greater part of the larvae had become pupae, the 

 remainder were mostly ready to change, and only a few continued to feed. In a 

 square foot I counted from 25 to 30 larvae and pupae, which gave for the 90 square 

 acres 69,981,000 individuals. Single ones were also to be found in the adjacent 

 clearings. I found school-children from the neighbouring villages busily engaged in 

 collecting the larvae and pupae, and they received for them a mark per litre. 

 Endeavours were made to stop the further spreading of the larvae by making 

 trenches into which the cattle were driven to trample on the larvae and pupae, and 

 later on fires were to be made, whereby any developed moths should be destroyed. 

 Altogether the forest officers did all that was possible to check the further spread of 

 the insects ; for this year in this place the grass was lost. 



The moths first appeared on the 5th July ; also their natural enemy Ichneumon 

 bucculentus, Wesmael ; but no Tachince. It remains to be seen what will happen in 

 1882 ; whether larvae will invade neighbouring pastures in destructive swarms, or 

 whether in consequence of the attacks of their natural enemies and by climatic 

 influences the number of the insects will be reduced to normal proportion. — A. 

 Gtjtheil. (Condensed from the " Entomol. Nachrichten :" 1st September.) 



Capture of rare Lepidoptera and Homoptera in Herefordshire. — On the 30th 

 August I captured, in Herefordshire, a pair of Cerostoma asperella and a series of 

 Psglla visci. — C. W. Dale, Barmouth, North Wales : September 2nd, 1881. 



A new mode of collecting Coleoptera, £{c. — [The following is an abbreviated 



