286 . THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



was delighted to see, the seed-vessels well cleaned out, and 

 thought now there was hope, when I saw three fine health}^ larvsB 

 at the top of the plants. About the middle of Ma}^ the}^ disap- 

 peared ; I became anxious as to their fate, thinking a great wire- 

 worm that I found among the roots had eaten them. However, 

 on my return home on the 12th June there was what should have 

 been a fine female, as bad as any captured one, but having reared 

 it was all I cared for. I made three drawings of the larva, and 

 now give a plain description from sketches made, but I think 

 with looking at them so much I could remember every mark on 

 them. The larva when full grown is short, about five-eighths of 

 an inch long, very slightly attenuated, has a very peculiar habit 

 when at rest ; it looks like a pot-hook. The ground colour of a 

 full-grown larva is of a yellowish brown, with five clear black 

 spots ; on the sixth segment a still smaller spot, which are all of a 

 wedge-shape. Between these spots are diamond-shaped spots of 

 a dark brown colour, which give it the appearance of a Eupithecia 

 larva. On the sides are two very narrow pale lines ; beneath these 

 the colour is of a pale ashy hue ; the head and legs are of same 

 tint. The head and body are clothed with hairs, — or spines I may 

 call them, they are so long for a small larva. Above the anal 

 segment, for a full eighth of an inch, it is nicely marked with 

 dark and light brown, which looks like fine net-work. The larva 

 curls up at once whenever it is even looked at. I generall}'^ had a 

 peep in the evening, for during the day they were often not to be 

 seen, having gone beneath the moss. Under all circumstances 

 they must be difiicult to breed. — J. B. Hodgkinson ; Spring Bank, 

 Preston, October 1882. 



Serropalpus striatus. — In September 1881, I took, I 

 believe at Newmarket, a beetle which turned out to be Serropalpus 

 striatus, a continental Melandryid. I should be glad to know 

 whether any other specimens have been met with. — E. Blundeel ; 

 Moulton Lodge, Luton, Oct. 11, 1882. 



[S. striatus, Hellenius, is included in Sharp's ' Catalogue' and 

 Pascoe's ' List.' See Ent. Ann., 1872, pp. 76-8.— E. A. F.] 



Ranatra linearis, Linn., near Hastings. — The Rev. W. W. 

 Fowler speaks of Ranatra as occurring near London and Deal 

 (Entom. XV. 230). In 1879 and 1880 this insect was extremely 

 abundant in ponds at Bopeep and Guestling, and also near the 

 town reservoirs. For the last two years, however, I have searched 



