IfiG THE KNTOMOLOGIST. 



this species presents a black variety, all the West Cliff examples are of the 

 form that has patches of red on the elytra, like the Aphodiua platjiatus on 

 the continent of Europe. — T. D, A. CocKEREUi ; West Cliff, Custer Co., 

 Colorado, May 19, 1889. 



Cannibalism of Auctia caia. — A short time ago I took several larvae 

 of Abraxas grossidarlata and also a larva of Arctia caia, and I put them 

 together in one cage. This morning I saw that the larva of A. caia had 

 attacked one of the grossuiariata. Examining it more closely 1 found 

 that it was eating the grossuiariata. There was plenty of food in the 

 cage, so that that was no reason why it should turn cannibal. — Hugh 

 Jackson; Houghton, 9, The Drive, Brighton, June 5, 1889. 



OcNEBiA pispar. — I have bred Ocneria dispar for many years from the 

 egg. In the open air they proved a failure, — every caterpillar died. I next 

 tried them en a high kitchen-shelf, a couple of yards to the right of the 

 lire-place, feeding the larvae on whitethorn. My plan, which I follow in all 

 hatching operations, was to place the eggs in a small Liebig's Extract of 

 Meat jar, covering with a piece of muslin, and fastening the latter with an 

 elastic-band. I then placed on the top of the jar a small square of glass, 

 and lifted it occasionally to admit air. The glass prevented the food from 

 drying. As soon as possible the larvae were transferred to a good-sized 

 fiower-pot covered with muslin, but without the glass, and, when the size 

 of the caterpillars allowed, a covering of net was substituted for the muslin. 

 The food, after dispensing with the glass, required to be renewed two or 

 three times a day. The loose withered leaves were allowed to remain in the 

 pot, and upon these the pupas formed without web or cocoon. The moths 

 emerged in about a fortnight, pupa after pupa to the very last one ; and I 

 well remember what a lively lot the males always were. The specimens in 

 my cabinet measure as follows: — Males, nearly '2 inches from lip to tip; 

 females, nearly 2^ inches. I cannot remember ever breeding a single 

 cripple. — J. Arklii: ; 2, George Street, Chester, June 3, 1889. 



Aglta tau. — I encountered this insect under somewhat different 

 circumstances to those described by Mr. Swinton (Entom. 139), while at 

 Wiesbaden, last year. There, undoubtedly, Aglia tau preferred the shade 

 of the trees in the extensive elevated woods of the district. They began to 

 appear precisely with the unfolding of the beech leaves, in the spring. I 

 observed them first on the 2nd of May. They continued abundant 

 throughout the month, the males flying in the heat of the day, darting in 

 and out among the trees in search of the females, and were by no means 

 easy to net ; one rarely saw them on the wing except during sunshine. The 

 females I took on two or three occasions, flying just before dusk. I 

 also took several of these at rest on heech trunks during the day, and once 

 a pair in copuhi in the same situation. The females laid freely in captivity. 

 The eggs are large, reddish brown, and somewhat oval in shape, with a 

 slightly corrugated surface. The larvte hatching from these are very 

 beautiful, being pale green, with a few long branched spines of a pink 

 colour. All mine accidentally perislied at this stage, but I met with the 

 full-grown larva in August crawling down the beech trunks ; it is then 

 quite different, being dull green, with no spines, but covered with short 

 bristles, which give it a roughened appearance, and tapering towards the 

 head and tail. I .searched, but unsuccessfully, for the pupa about the roots 



