1882.1 261 



proceed to give the explanation that these larvae, " after spinning their cocoons, cast 

 from their anus three or four masses of a soft and paste-like matter, which they 

 apply with their head all round the inside of the cavity, and which, drying in a 

 short time, becomes a powder that effectually renders it opaque. This is not as 

 might be expected an excrement, but a true secretion, evidently intended for this 

 very purpose, and according to Reaumur, a similar powder, but white, derived from 

 the varicose intestines, is used by the caterpillars of Gastropacha quercifolia, &c." 

 And I find in Boisduval's introduction to the first vol. of " Lepidopteres, Suites a 

 Buffon," the following passage : " II en est qui, pour rendre leur coque plus ferme et 

 moins transparente, 1' humectent d'une liqueur jaune qu'elles rendent par l'anus, 

 et qui, en se dessechant, devient pulve'rulente comme du lycopodium ou de la fleur 

 de soufre (Bombyx neustria, franconica, castrensis, &c.)" 



Besides the powdery cocoon of C. neustria, I had bethought myself of the 

 varnished cocoon of Saturnia carpini, and on this point also I find something in 

 Kirby and Spence, for they quote a conjecture of Reaumur that the threads of 

 which it is made are connected by a " gummy matter from the anus, with which the 

 whole interior of the cocoon is often plastered." 



I have myself bred very few indeed of the large Oriental silk-spinners, and I 

 have not sufficient physiological knowledge to speak with anything like authority on 

 the substances other than silk, which are found in the cocoons of the above men- 

 tioned British species, but I must say of the two explanations given I prefer the 

 one which attributes them to a secretion, to that which gives them an excrementi- 

 tious origin. Perhaps there may be some one who has investigated this subject 

 recently, and can settle it for us ; if not, it seems sufficiently interesting to be examin- 

 ed anew, and I shall be glad to help any one able and willing to make experiments. 



The cocoons of some of the ichneumous, as noticed by Kirby and Spence, offer 

 curious examples of variation in the colour of silk, which must all come from the 

 same source ; some of these cocoons are regularly banded in two colom-s, others, as 

 Mr. Parfitt made me observe, are spotted, and some I have seen almost streaked ; 

 here would be another interesting subject for examination by a competent student. — 

 J. Hellins, Exeter : 10th March, 1882. 



Corticaria Wollastoni at Mablethorpe, Sfc. — Last summer I took on the sand- 

 hills at Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire, several specimens of a Corticaria which I thought 

 might be Wollastoni, "Waterhouse, as it seemed strange, and I knew that Mable- 

 thorpe was the place where Mr. Wollaston took the specimens from which the insect 

 was named ; on comparing my specimens with the type specimen of Wollastoni 

 given me by Mr. Matthews, I found that they were identical. I sent, however, one 

 of my specimens to M. Brisout de Barneville, who returned it to me as. C. transver- 

 sahs, G-yll., a species very common on the continent, and apparently one of the most 

 variable of the genus. I find that Reitter, in his Monograph, has already merged 

 Wollastoni into transversalis as a variety ; and although he has done this only from 

 descriptions, and owns that Wollastoni is unknown to him, yet there would seem to 

 be little doubt but that he is right. The following continental species, that have at 

 one time or other been described, are all now included under transversalis : brevi- 

 collis, Mannh., maura, Mots., hortensis, Mannh., Wollastoni, Waterh., sutnralis, 



