133 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES, CAPTURES, &c. 



Clostera anachoreta. — In answer to the enquiry of the 

 Rev. J. Greene, in the last number of the ' Entomologist 

 (Entom. xiv. 117), I send an account of my own experience with 

 Clostera anachoreta. In September, 1861, my father found a 

 larva feeding on poplar in some small plantations below West 

 ClitF, Folkestone ; but I did not recognise the species till the 

 pupa hatched on April 27tli, 18G2. The poplars in these planta- 

 tions were, I think, chiefly the balsam poplar, the species with 

 large leaves, coming out early in the spring, and with the buds 

 resinous and fragrant. There were also a few small black and 

 Lombard}'^ poplars among them. This larva of G. anachoreta and 

 the subsequent ones of this species we found in 1862 and 1803 

 were only on this " balsam poplar." In the autumn of 18(53 my 

 brother and I found twelve larvae of C. anachoreta : one died 

 when young, the other eleven changed into pupae, all of which 

 hatched in the following spring (1863), between April 13th and 

 Ma}^ 7th, and were all good specimens except one, which was 

 slightly crippled. We also found that autumn (1862) larvae of 

 C. curtula, C. recliisa, Notodonta z'lczac, N. d'lctcp-a, and Dicranura 

 vinida ; but all the species of Clostera were on the balsam poplar. 

 In October, 1863, we found N.ziczac and N. dictcea, and one larva 

 of C. anachoreta, which we did not keep, as we had bred them in 

 plenty. During that month we turned out eighty-four nearly full- 

 fed larvae of G. anachoreta, but not all bred from the same parents, 

 in different places along these plantations. We put the larvae on 

 the same species of poplar we had first found them on, in order 

 thoroughly to establish the species there ; but since that date we 

 have neither of us seen the larva of G. anachoreta there, although 

 Ave have been at Folkestone every autumn up to the present time. 

 This may be partly owing to the fact that most of these young 

 poplars have died, or had their lower branches trimmed and grown 

 too high to search; neither have we since that date (1863) found 

 there the other larvse just mentioned. Not having been down at 

 Folkestone much in the spring of the year, I have not often been 

 able to search for the spring brood of G. anachoreta. I may 

 mention that, so far as my own experience goes, the larvse of 

 C. anachoreta here fed only on the lower branches of these balsam 



