318 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



to the present time the Solanian aviculare is the only native plant I have 

 noted attacked by P. nigricomis. — W. W. Smith ; Sept. 28th, 1897. 



Food-plant of the Larva of Tapinostola bondii. — Touching my 

 note on the landslip of bondii locality (ante, p. 75), I find that I gave 

 the food as Arrhenathenim avenacetiin, whereas it should have been 

 Festuca arimdinacea. Tugwell was wrong, and Prof. Syme (Dr. Boswell- 

 Syme) correct. — H. G. Knaggs ; Folkestone, Nov. 23rd, 1897. 



A CURIOUS USE OF Ants IN Smyrna. — Mr. E. M. Middleton (Journ. 

 Linn. Soc. Lond. Zool. xxv. 405) states that a Greek gentleman fell 

 from his horse in Smyrna, and received a severe cut on the forehead 

 above the right eye. " In accordance with the custom of the country, 

 he went to a Greek barber to have the wound dressed, and the barber 

 employed at least ten living ants to bite the two sides together. 

 Pressing together the margins of the cut with the fingers of the left 

 hand, he applied the insect by means of a pair of forceps held in the 

 right hand. The mandibles of the ant were widely open for self- 

 defence, and as the insect was brought carefully near to the wound, it 

 seized upon the raised surface, penetrated the skin on both sides, and 

 remained tenaciously fixed while the operator severed the head from 

 the thorax, so leaving the mandibles grasping the wound. The same 

 operation was repeated until about ten ants' heads were fixed on the 

 wound, and left in position for three days or thereabouts, when the cut 

 was healed and the heads removed. The ant employed is described by 

 Mr. Issigonis [the gentleman referred to] as being about three-eighths 

 of an inch long, very dark brown in colour, and of a particularly fierce 

 disposition." 



EuGONiA fuscantaria AND Ennomos quercinaria. — I Hotice that Mr. 

 Kane, in his list of the Lepidoptera of Ireland (Entom. xxx. 59), 

 mentions that there is a difficulty in distinguishing E. fuscantaria 

 from the var. infuscata of E. quercinaria. I do not know to which 

 particular variety the name infuscata refers, but I have never yet 

 seen any specimens of E. quercinaria that could be confused with 

 E. fuscantaria, and I have bred a considerable number of both species. 

 Apart from the coloration, and the direction of the transverse lines, 

 E. fuscantaria may be easily distinguished by the peculiar hooked angle 

 on the hind margin of the primaries. — Alfred T. Mitchell ; 5, Clay- 

 ton Terrace, Gunnersbury, W. 



Amphydasys betularia var. doubledayaria. — I was much interested 

 regarding the capture by Mr. Mera of this variety in the Loudon 

 district, as I have this year, for the first time, bred an example (a 

 male). Three larvre were taken on willow near Mortlake, and one 

 produced the black variety, the others typical specimens. — Alfred T. 

 Mitchell ; 5, Clayton Terrace, Gunnersbury, W. 



Angerona prunaria : is the Larva a general feeder ? — In a well- 

 known habitat of the above species I have frequently searched and 

 beaten for the larva, but without obtaining a single example ; several 

 of my friends have had a like experience both in Essex and the West 

 of England ; and I do not remember any mention of the larvte having 

 been beaten out in the numerous lists that have appeared in the 



