1G3 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



tioti to Eiitoinologv,' vol. ii. p. 295. — A. E. H.\.ix; Noi'burv, Sheffield, Dec. 

 10, 18b8. 



OcNKRiA Disi'AR. — Before l.ist summer I had bred many of this insect, 

 with the too general result, — three out of every four, or tliereabouts, 

 proved to be " cripples " on emergence. Last summer I bred upwards of 150 

 larviB, and tried anotlier plan. 1 left the pupie in the places in my 

 inverted bell-glasses, where they spun up and never in any way interfered 

 with or touched theni. The result was, that out of over 130 emergences, I 

 had but some half-dozen " cripples." Whether this is the solution of the 

 difficulty in rearing 0. dispar, perhaps other readers may endeavour to 

 prove during this coming summer. — (Rev.) J. Seymour St. John; 42, 

 Castlewood, Road, Stamford Hill, N., March 16, 1889. 



Panoijs piniperda IX Irrland. — It m;iy interest some of your Irish 

 readers to know that I took two specimens of Fanolis piinpenla at Howth, 

 on the trunks of two Scotch firs, on April 14th. Newman states that it is 

 not reported from Ireland, but I understand that it has been taken 

 at Wicklow since his time. I should like to know any particulars about its 

 occurrence in this country. — Quo. W. Hart ; 14, Lower Pembroke Street, 

 April 10, 1889. 



Caradrina quadripunctata. — On the 9th of this month a specimen 

 of the above moth was found flying in one of the rooms in this house ; it 

 appeared to be very recently emerged. Newman states that the laiva 

 passes the winter in its " cubiculum," and does not change to the pupa stage 

 till May, the moth appearing a few weeks later. It seems fairly certain that 

 in the present case the larva pupated about the middle of the winter, the 

 imago emerging a few weeks later. Probably the larva " made up " in 

 some warm spot, which induced it to undergo its transformations so prema- 

 turely. I suppose C. quadnpunctata has never been known to hibernate 

 in the imago stage? Newman states that the larva feeds on "farinaceous 

 and leguminous crops." I remember a few years ago, in the autumn, 

 finding a half-grown larva feeding inside a pear : I put the pear, with its 

 occupant, inside a bo.x; which was afterwards mislaid. Next summer the 

 box turned up, and it was found that the insect had duly emerged as this 

 species ; so that C. qiuulripunctata appears to be a very general feeder, 

 and capable of doing much damage to crops, if present in great numbers. — 

 E. W, H. Blagg ; Greenhill, Cheadle, Siaff.jrdshire, March 12, 1889. 



Amphidasys betularia, buff var. — In reply to Mr. Joseph Chap- 

 pell (Entom. 113) respecting this remarkable variety that was often bred by 

 Middleton collectors, as he says, it would be interesting to know something of 

 their history, and whether the same has been lost. As some entomologists, I 

 understand, believed them to have been manufactured, T will give a short 

 history of them. In l874,Thomns Lomas and Jonathan Fielding, two mem- 

 bers of our local Entomological Society, captured near Heaton Park a buff 

 female in copula with a black male. After depositing ova, the female was 

 sold to a London dealer, tlie ova being taken great care of, and the larva fed 

 up well. Many buff varieties were expected to turn up from this brood that 

 emerged from the pupue in 1875, but the breeders were disappointe<l, for 

 not a single buff variety turned up, all being black and ordinary forms. 

 Being thus disappointed, and having no idea the butf forms might reappear, 

 ihey gave to several collectors virgin females to cross with black males. 



