434 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
usual number of claspers. Besides the species above- 
mentioned, I have seen, recently hatched, larve of other 
species of Genuinz, in the possession of Mr. Bartlett, and 
they have all shown the same characteristics. If we leave 
this section, and turn to the second great group of Noctue, 
the Quadrifide, we find that the greater part of the larve are 
half-loopers throughout their lives, such as the larve of 
the genera Plusia and Catocala; whereas in the Noctue, 
which are most nearly allied to the Bombycina, the larve 
have always the usual number of claspers, and are also, like 
the larvee of Arctia and Chelonia, more or less hairy. The 
conclusion I draw from these facts is, that Geometre are, 
what I think I may term, wndeveloped Noctue; therefore 
their proper position, instead of being between the Bombyces 
and Noctuz, would be somewhere a/ter the latter group. 
- Beginning with the Bombyciformes, we find the larve having 
five pairs of claspers, from the egg upwards (T. derasa and 
batis are, however, exceptions). We then find, in the Genuine, 
larve which, on first coming into the world, possess but 
three pairs of claspers, but which on attaining maturity are 
possessed of the usual number thereof; and, lastly, in the 
Minores and Quadrifide we have larve who are semi-loopers 
throughout their lives: from these we naturally merge into 
the true geometers. I merely start this as an hypothesis, and 
leave it-to wiser heads than mine to work out, if they consider 
it worth while. I should like to have the opinion of some 
one who has had more experience than I in rearing Noctue 
from the egg; and shall be obliged to any gentleman, who in 
future may rear any of this family, if he will note whether they 
possess the characteristics I have mentioned or not.—B. 
Lockyer. 
Batoneus Populi: a Mite Injurious to the Aspen in 
Scotland.—At the end of May last, Mr. George Norman, of 
Forres, a gentleman well known as an ardent and successful 
cultivator of Scottish Entomology, kindly sent me a batch of 
aspen galls, accompanied by a note, that they were growing 
in vast profusion on Sir A. Gordon Cumming’s estate, near 
Shiel, on the banks of the Findhorn, and that the branches 
of the aspens were covered with them in all stages of growth. 
My correspondent also informed me that the aspens were 
probably of natural growth—quite wild; and, in reply to my 
