NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 237 



evidently just out. There are still plenty about, only of 

 course more worn, I may mention that wherever I have 

 been this year I have seen specimens. On June ]lih 1 saw 

 one at Wormwood Scriibbs during the Middlesex Rifle 

 Meeting. — Waldp:grave ; Bookham Lodge, Cobham, Surrey, 

 August, 1877. 



Vanessa Aniiopa at Norwich. — On August 18th a friend 

 of mine saw a specimen of V. Aniiopa in a street in this city, 

 but was unable to capture it. — R. Laddiman ; Norwich. 



Vanessa Antiopa in the Isle of Wight. — 1 should like 

 to record in the 'Entomologist' the capture of a good speci- 

 men of V. Aniiopa in a field near Shanklin, Isle of Wight, on 

 the 6th of August. — R. Oakeshott ; ICl, Sloane Street, S.W., 

 August 23, 1877. 



Sphinx convolvuli Larva. — I received the other day a 

 fine larva of »S'. convolvuli. Within twenly-four hours after 

 obtaining it, it buried in the earth at the bottom of the 

 breeding-cage in which 1 had placed it. I had only time to 

 compare it with the very complete description given by the 

 late Edward Newman in the 'Entomologist' (Entom.viii. 272). 

 — J. B. Pillky; 2, High Town, Hereford, August 23, 1877. 



AcRONYCTA alni AT Three BRIDGES. — 1 joined the South 

 London Entomological Society's annual excursion (forTilgate 

 Forest) on Monday, August 6th, and spent a few hours in the 

 forest. A small larva beaten off birch lell into my net, 

 resembling very curiously a bird's dropping, having the anal 

 segments of a dirty while colour, the anterior segments being 

 blackish with whitish markings. When at rest with the head 

 turned back its appearance was fully calculated to deceive a 

 casual observer, and probably also its natural enemies — the 

 birds. The larva was quite unknown to my fellow-members ; 

 and though 1 was disposed to think it might belong to 

 Acronycta al/ii, simply from the iact that it was evidently an 

 Acronycla and was different to the commoner species of that 

 family, this idea received no support. On the Ibllowing 

 day my larva cast its skin without undergoing any noteworthy 

 change in its appearance, except that it had a pair of long 

 hairs near the head and shorter hairs on the body. The 

 curious resemblance to the bird's dropping was as before. 

 After this moult the larva fed well upon birch for five days, 

 when it spun a web on a birch leaf and prepared to moult 



