﻿286 TKE ENTOMOLOGIST, 



myiafera, L., which resembles it, but is not nearly so handsoroe, is 

 common in Devon and Cornwall. — C. W. Bracken, B.A., F.E.S. ; 

 Corpoi-ation Grammar School, Plymouth. 



GoMPHOCERus MA.CULATUS, Thunb., Tetrix subulatus, L., and 

 CoNOCEPHALis DORSALis, Latr. — The first-named grasshopper was 

 present in dozens on the slopes of a steep valley at Treborwith, 

 N. Cornwall, last August. The specimens were, almost without 

 exception, of various shades of brown. This species is very local in 

 the south-west and cannot be called common. I have taken it 

 sparingly at Ugborough (S. Devon) and at Lee Woods (N. Devon) — 

 at both these places the insects were nearly all black. T. bipwictatus 

 is common everywhere here, but T. suhulatus rarely occurs. Mr. J. 

 H. Keys has given me one taken at Nodder Bridge, Saltash (near 

 Plymouth, but on Cornish side of Tamar), April 24;th, 1915. All my 

 previous captures were made at Bude and Braunton Burrows. After 

 five hours patient sweeping near Churston, S. Devon, on August 26th, 

 1914, I took three of the rare orthopteron Co?iocephalis dorsalis, 

 Latr., two males and one female. They were captured in exactly the 

 same spot as that in which Mr. G. T. Porritt took them several years 

 ago. It was a pretty sight to see them sunning themselves on the 

 rushes, their antennae waving like threads of spun glass. — C. W. 

 Bracken. 



Malpighis Galls. — I have again taken a few of these rare galls 

 this autumn (October 6th). I can always depend on finding them 

 on one or two trees at Newnham, Plympton, near Plymouth. I took 

 one also at Plym Bridge Woods, October 2nd. The fact may be 

 worth recording, since the late Mr. E. Connold in his ' British Oak 

 Galls ' states that he never found but one. I corresponded with him 

 once concerning my specimens, and he agreed they were not calli- 

 doma but malpighii. I find from some memoranda of the late Mr. 

 G. C. Bignell that he took twenty-two of these galls at Bickleigh, 

 near Plymouth, on October 22nd, 1900. — C. W. Bracken. 



Notes on the Early Stages of Plusia moneta. — In the 

 ' Entomologist ' for 1912 (vol. xlv. pp. 181, 206, 207) several letters 

 appeared relating to the ovipositing and method of hibernation of 

 Plusia moneta. The Eev. W. Claxton began by asking in what stage 

 this insect hibernated, and related his experience of finding a larva 

 in the spring which could only have come to him among some seed 

 which he purchased. As P. moneta was common in my garden this 

 summer, I spent some time in watching the process of ovipositing, 

 and found the egg was generally laid on the corolla of the flower but 

 sometimes on a leaf. I also captured a few females and enclosed 

 them in muslin bags on the flower-heads. A number of ova were 

 laid, some on the flowers and some on the muslin. These hatched 

 in about a fortnight, and the young larvae at once ate their way into 

 the young seed-pods, the only visible mark of entry being a tiny 

 hole, or rather spot, about the size of a pin's point. Determined to 

 see whether it was possible for the larvae to hibernate on the seeds 

 alone, I have since then kept the muslin bags in sitii on the flower 



