NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 287 



the season, try the same trees for the larva of this sjjecies ; 

 so on August 25th I set to work with the beating-net, and 

 beat all the lower branches, such as 1 could reach. The 

 result was no larvae of D. hicuspis ; but, what was quite as 

 good, I took no less than five larvae of Acromjcta aliii — two 

 of them nearly full fed, and the other three in the earlier 

 stage, so well described, in the September 'Entomologist,' by 

 your correspondent Mr. J. P. Barrett. Two of these three 

 certainly, if not all of them, moulted twice before assuming 

 the well-known appearance of the full-fed larva. The earlier 

 moult in no way altered the dingy colour described by 

 Mr. Barrett, except, as would be expected, it became some- 

 what brighter, or rather less dingy ; the same close resemblance 

 to a bird-dropping remained ; but the final moult produced a 

 marvellous transformation — from a dirty white, of more or 

 less intensity, to a bright purple-black, with glorious golden 

 dashes, is a truly wondrous change, hardly to be credited if 

 not seen. In the earlier stages there are indications of the 

 remarkable clubbed hairs, so characteristic of the full-grown 

 larva; and the habit of bending back the first three segments 

 close to the body when asleep on the surface of a leaf is the 

 same. Having been so fortunate I beat a few days later 

 some more alder trees hard by, but with no success, so I 

 determined to beat the same trees over again. 1 did so on 

 September 5th, and got two more, both nearly full grown. 

 They have fed up but slowly ; and the last of the seven only 

 went into pupa yesterday. I have them all safe in bits of 

 hollow stick; and next June 1 shall be all anxiety to see 

 the result. — [Rev.] T. W. Daltry ; Madeley Vicarage, New- 

 castle, Staffordshire, September 25, 1877. 



AcRONYCTA ALNi NEAR Derby. — We have been fortunate 

 enough to pick up three larvae of Acronycta alni this season: 

 one, August 14th, from a sloe bush under alders; a second, 

 September 7th, beaten from low poplar suckers, also at the 

 roots of an alder ; and a third, September 19th, from the 

 heart of a standard apple tree, some ten feet from the ground, 

 no other kind of tree near. All three occurred within a 

 quarter of a mile of this house. They had undergone their 

 last moult, and donned that handsome livery of black tagged 

 velvet turned up with gold, which is so different from the 

 sober costume of their earlier stages, described by Mr. Barrett 

 in the 'Entomologist' (Enlom. x. 237). That gentleman, 



