THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 85 



sea-shore. Here, too, they are still more tame than else- 

 where, though they can at any time be easily caught with the 

 hand. Their being found in such great numbers on the sea- 

 shore gives one the idea of their having come from other 

 climes, by the action of the " wondrous instinct" of migration. 

 I have noticed that, when in flight, they go all of them in 

 the same direction, viz., from south to north. This also has 

 been noticed and observed to me by others. They settle, 

 when their fate leads them to gardens, on flowers of all kinds, 

 seeming to have no great preference for any. At the moment 

 of writing their numbers are somewhat thinner, but on the 

 first three days of this week they were quite a pest. I found 

 hundreds of them yesterday, on the shore near Blackgang, 

 lying dead, killed, I imagine, by some rather cold winds 

 which we have lately been having. They have, I find, a 

 partiality for the fruit of the fig-tree, which, however, they do 

 not, so far as one can observe, attack themselves, but, en- 

 tering the excavations caused by the wasps, they join in the 

 feast. — C. E. Seaman ; Nortltwood, Isle of Wight, August 

 20, 1864. 



[Mr. Rogers and several other residents in the Isle of 

 Wight have sent still more extraordinary statements of the 

 multitudes of these flies : all that have reached me are refer- 

 rible to three species — Syrphus Pyrastri, S. topiarius and 

 S. balteatus. Entomologists need scarcely be told that the 

 larvai of these species feed entirely on Aphides or plant-lice, 

 and that the extraordinary number of Syrphi only corre- 

 sponds with the enormous multitudes of Aphides which the 

 past dry summer has called into existence. — E. Newman.'\ 



21. Note on Ewplexia lucipara. — The eggs are white, and 

 are generally laid on the back of some leaf, mostly in a long 

 row on the back fibre ; the eggs from which the specimen I 

 send you were bred were laid on the back of a primrose-leaf; 

 I found them on the 24th of June, and they emerged on the 

 4th of July : the larvae were fed on groundsel and whitethorn : 

 they go down generally in September, the pupa being sub- 

 terranean and enclosed in a brittle earthen cocoon, from 

 which the perfect insect escapes the first week of the June 

 following : the larva also eats both the common species of 

 plantain, as well as sallow, dandelion, &c. — John S. Dell ; 

 121, Navy Row, M or ice Town. 



