164 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
a tree. On June 19th, 1915, I found a batch of Macrothylacia 
(B) rubi ova on the trunk of a Scots pine about 18 in. from the 
ground. I took the larve in profusion feeding on grass the year 
before in the same plantation on a local moor.—J. P. Rosson; Vane 
Road, Barnard Castle. 
TRREGULAR EMERGENCE OF PIERISs BRASSICH.—On February 27th, 
1915, I brought seventeen P. brassice pupe into the house hoping 
to persuade the butterflies to emerge early in the season. They were 
placed in one box on the kitchen mantelpiece, and they emerged as 
follows; April 22nd (2), 23rd (1), 24th (1), 27th (2), May 4th (1), 
8th (1), 11th (1), 17th (1), June 13th (1), 16th (1), 22nd (1), 26th (1), 
28th (1), July 2nd (1), 20th (1). All were fine perfect specimens, 
except one, which only developed three wings; the left hind wing 
was very rudimentary.—J. P. Rosson; Vane Road, Barnard Castle. 
XANTHIA GILVAGO IN DuRHAM.—I took a female specimen of this 
species from a street lamp on October 6th, 1915. Appears to be a 
new record for Durham.—J. P. Rosson; Vane Road, Barnard 
Castle. 
SaTURNIA PyakI ON AcTIvVE SeRvice.—On July 6th last year, I 
obtained in Lemnos a larva of S. pyri (Great Peacock Moth), which 
were common on the island. The larva purpated next day, the 
cocoon being at first pure white, but this soon changed to brown. 
The pupa remained with me throughout the campaign in the 
Gallipoli Peninsula, at Cape Helles, Anzac, and finally at Suvla Bay, 
being kept in a small tin in my dug-out. It came home with me in 
December, packed in a suit-case in its tin, and the moth, a fine male 
with an expanse of 54 inches, emerged on May 11th.—R. G. Burton, 
Colonel, Indian Army ; 7, Suffolk Square, Cheltenham. 
A PuaaguE or CaTERPILLARS.—With reference to what has 
appeared in the public press relative to the devastation caused by 
caterpillars to the oak trees at Ashtead, you may be interested to 
know that some three or four years since a similar occurrence took 
place in the oak plantations in Richmond Park. The denudation of 
the trees was so severe that in the spring of 1913 H.M. Office of 
Works consulted Mr. Maxwell Lefroy, the famous entomologist of 
the Royal College of Science, with a view to stamping out the pest. 
Eventually it was decided to spray the trees with chromate of lead at 
such a time that the young caterpillars, on hatching out, should have 
only poisoned food. The spraying operations were carried out b 
portable high-pressure pumping apparatus loaned by myself, self-sup- 
porting telescopic ladders being provided to reach the tree-tops, some 40 
feet from the ground. This was, I believe, the first occasion on which 
attempts were made to spray such large trees, and there is not much 
doubt that the oaks at Ashtead could be.treated in a similar manner, 
It is, of course, now too late in the season to undertake preventive 
measures, but if spraying were undertaken early next May, I have 
not much doubt that the pest could be eradicated.—J. Compron 
MERRYWEATHER; 4, Whitehall Court, S.W., June 7th, 1916. 
