THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 191 



have to be renewed at least once a clay. This is caused by 

 the necessity of splitting open the catkins, which in conse- 

 quence quickly dry up. The larvae will not touch them 

 when whole. During this time the eggs of P. pluniigera and 

 X. aurago, in spite of ni}' efforts to retard them, continued to 

 hatch. I am sorry to say these' all died, as it was utterly 

 impossible to procure the food — maple and beech — on which 

 they exclusively feed. A still more remarkable instance, 

 perhaps, of the mildness of the temperature in the early part 

 of the present year, is to be found in the fact that on the 25lh 

 of February a very fine specimen of Smerinthus Tilige, and 

 one of Noclua plecta, emerged from the pupa. Two more of 

 the former have since come out, and also two Endromis ver- 

 sicolor. These pupae, I should say, were kept in a warm 

 room. I may add, in conclusion, that it is anything but 

 warm here just now, and that vegetation is very backward. — 

 [Rev.'] J. Greene ; 4, Cary Parade, Torquay, March 20. 



122. Note on the Larva of Liparis Salicis. — Liparis Sa- 

 licis was very abundant last year, and in the autumn, when 

 the young larvae emerged, I saw thousands of them sus- 

 peirded by a silken thread from the aspen and poplar trees, 

 apparently seeking a favourable spot in which to hybernate. 

 It is said that the ova of this species are not hatched until 

 the spring, but in this district they are invariably out in 

 about twenty days. The young larvae lay up for the winter 

 when about a quarter of an inch long, in the crevices of the 

 bark, among leaves, &c., and commence feeding in early 

 spring, when they are so small as to appear but just out of 

 the egg. — Henry Moncreajf ; Southsea. 



123. Poisonous Property of the Larva of Liparis aurijiua. 

 — The beautiful, but extremely poisonous, larva of Liparis 

 auriflua was very scarce last summer in this Island, but 

 abundant the year before, when I collected about two hun- 

 dred for the purpose of investigation. All went on well until 

 their first moult, when the hair soon became detaclied from 

 the old skin and reduced to a fine powder, which was put in 

 motion by the least disturbance of the air in the breeding- 

 cage, and attached itself to all the moist, uncovered parts of 

 the body, causing violent irritation and swellings on the neck, 

 face and hands. After all had spun up I attempted to re- 

 move the cocoons, when my face and hands soon assumed a 



