1867.} 85 
and the chirp of the attendant bright-eyed Red-breast (which I have known even to 
settle upon my pad), are the only sounds to be heard,— all combine to impress this 
season upon the memory. Here, at Coombe Wood, Cryptophagus lycoperdi swarms in 
puff-balls, but never accompanied by Lycoperdina. Many species of Gyrophcena 
are to be found, often very commonly ; gentilis and fasciata being the most 
ahnndsmt, and l<Bvipennis and. pulchella the rarest. Agaricochara lavicollis, Boli- 
tobius atricapillus, &c., Autalia impressa, and Oxypoda altemans also abound; — 
sometimes with Engis and Triphyllus punctatus, and stray Cholevce, Aphodii, &c. 
I remember once being much astonished at finding Geotrupes sijlvaticus and two 
specimens of Necrophorus mortuorum stowed away in a very small round rotten 
fungus, that looked as if it could not possibly contain sach bulky insects. 
I shall be glad if these notes tempt any beginner to try the time-honoured 
wood of Coombe ; and will conclude with the remark that if the ghost of the late 
J. F. Stephens could revisit his old happy hunting-grounds, it would be considerably 
astonished by the row of rhododendrons planted on each side of the hill by the 
Duke, and looking very out of place,— though good enough traps for Longicornes. — 
E. C. Rye, V, Tarkfield Cottages, Putney, August, 1867. 
Description of the larva of Tanagra chccrophyllata.— On the 28th and 30th of 
May last, I had the pleasure to receive six larvae obtained from the flowers of earth- 
nut {Bunium flexuosum) by Mr. Howard Vaughan, who has my sincere thanks for 
making two excursions in quest of the larva3 to a locality where the perfect insects 
were Icnown to occur. 
It is, therefore, to this gentleman we are indebted, not only for a knowledge of 
the larva, which hitherto has been most inaccurately described, but also for that 
of its food-plant, which, being one of the JJmhellifercB, had doubtless been mistaken 
for Choerophyllum ; but experience proved that chervil could not be the proper 
food, as young larvae obtained from eggs refused it, and starved. 
This larva, when full-grown, is nearly three-quarters of an inch in length, 
cylindrical, stout in proportion, and about equally thick throughout, rather shining, 
and with distinct lines, as follows : — 
Ground colour of the back green or bluish-green, becoming on the sides 
gradually paler towards the spiracular region. The dorsal line darker green, and 
on the anal segment becoming dark red and thicker, forming a very conspicuous 
mark. The sub-dorsal stripe of a darker green than the ground-colour, and 
running between two fine lines of pale whitish-green, which in some individuals 
are also seen to be very finely edged externally with darker green. 
The spiracles are red, and below them the green fades into a whitish stripe, 
and it is forcibly contrasted beneath by a darker tint of the green of the back 
softening gradually into a paler green on the ventral surface, where there are three 
longitudinal whitish stripes, the middle one being the widest. 
The larvEe had all retired to earth by the 8th of June, and the moths began to 
appear on the 27th, and the whole six were out by the 29th of the month.— William 
Buckler, Emsworth. 
Notes on the larva of Apatura Iris- — It is as difficult to convey a just sense of 
my gratification at having been able to observe the wonderful larva of this imperial 
